*Awooo* *Aw-Aw-Awoooo*

A chorus of howls reverberated through the forest, as Diane ran with Thistleman towards the nearest mountain. Today had gone far more poorly than Diane could have anticipated, her hopes from the early morning were dashed.

At first, the day wasn’t going too bad at all. We had found a few patches of Crow Grass by following the birds flocking in the sky, and while we were clearly not well practiced at it, we were doing just fine! And then, we stumbled across a nice river, while using one of the more identifiable mountains as point of reference to keep from getting lost. While the river seemed to be mostly picked clean of Tuffle Weed, we were able to find a few patches growing along the bank that were missed.

However, things turned south as soon as Thistle seemed to catch wind of something. He said it smelled like direwolf, and that they were headed in our direction chasing something! We thought that if we quickly moved out of the way towards the mountain, it would be fine… but I never expected the fucking Thunder Deer to use us as bait to get them off its trail! The locals call them Styars, and they are a fairly nasty demonic beast to hunt that can wield lightning from its horns and are as fast as a thunderclap, hence the nickname Thunder Deer, but are otherwise peaceful if unprovoked.

As soon as it saw us, it made a sharp turn, leaping over us and then cutting away across the river. And now, the direwolf pack is on our trail. Humans are a far easier hunt, and for the first time, it seems Thistle is legitimately worried. He told me that, no matter what, I cannot fight the direwolves and to run.

And now, here we are, with a pack of direwolves on our tail. Mistakenly, I openly wondered to myself how today could get any worse.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Haraldr was dashing through the woods as fast as his legs could carry him. He was terrified. Behind him, he could hear the buzzing of two, maybe three Giant Hornets. It seems they had spotted him as he tried to run away. Even if it wasn’t the whole swarm, what could he do? He threw all his knives and had only managed to take one down.

“HELP! SOMEONE, ANYONE, HELP!”

He was screaming at the top of his lungs. He could hear one approaching from behind him, and he dodged behind a tree at the last second before running again. The only reason he is alive right now is because the woods make it harder for the hornets to fly up to him and can give him some cover.

He is running out of breath as he finally gets pincered, the hornets are coming from both sides. He manages barely to dodge two of them, but the third drops from the sky on to him!

Shit! Shit shit shit shit shit!

He doesn’t want to die here! Why???? Why him? They tried to play everything safe, and just one moment, one small mistake, and now they all have to die for it? DAMNIT! JUST A LITTLE FURTHER AND THE BRUSH WOULD HAVE BEEN TOO THICK FOR THEM TO FOLLOW!

At that moment, he hears a loud chorus of howls, quickly approaching. Direwolves. He stops struggling. No matter what, he was a dead man. He would never know love, the touch of a woman, have a family.

The gods have abandoned him. He couldn’t help but laugh at the inevitability of his predicament. The only thing worse than giant hornets are a direwolf pack. You would need a party of iron plates to hunt just one of them. Worse still, direwolves are smart. A whole pack has been able to outsmart and wipe out silver plate adventurers before, which is why only gold plates and above have the confidence and strength to hunt them.

He could feel the Giant hornet’s mandibles start to tear into his stomach, but he couldn’t stop laughing. It was too much for him to handle now. Even if he escaped the hornets, he couldn’t escape death. He didn’t even notice the two kids running out of the thickets. One of them yelled something, and the girl leaped on to the hornet.

He felt it stop chewing on him, and then take off, still holding him in its claws. The hornet was taking them back to the mountain while trying to shake something off. A small trail of green blood came dripping over the side, and on to his face. He never stopped laughing.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

“Diane, jump on the hornet now! Use your rapier to stab in to its back and hold on!”

“What?! Are you crazy? That thing is huge and disgusting!!”

“So what? Its better than the direwolves! Don’t worry, I have a plan! We will use the hornets to distract the wolves and get out of here!”

Diane’s face screws up really hard, as she looks with absolute disgust at the massive bug. The other two hornets turned around at the sound of the Direwolves’ howls, and were already heading back to the mountain. This last one was too distracted with its prey to notice the incoming threat. She looks back one more time, wondering if she can still outrun them on foot, when she hears the howls much closer than before.

“Damnit! Nope nope nope nope nope!”

She sprints full speed and leaps on to the Giant hornets back, stabbing down with her rapier. The point of the blade hits its carapace and bends slightly, denting the chitin but otherwise failing to pierce it.

“Shit, I need more power!”

She tries stabbing it several times for little effect. The hornet seems flustered with her attempts and starts to take off.

Damnit! She suddenly remembers her fight with Percival… his weapon, he cloaked it with magic to strengthen it, right?

She closes her eyes, the rough take-off causing her footing to slip, but she doesn’t lose focus. She focuses her mana into her rapier, and stabs again. The blade pierces in to the chitin and sticks in, helping her to hang on, with a meaty *shtick* sound, and green blood starting to drip out.

“Thistle! Thistleeee!!!!”

She yells down to him as the Hornet takes off, reaching out her hand. But she already knows he is too far away.

“Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine! Just no matter what, hold on!”

The pack of direwolves erupts from the brush, and Thistleman promptly disappears back in to the foliage heading towards the mountain. Tears start filling her eyes, and an indescribably anger starts filling her chest. She was angry at everything, but most of all, she was angry at herself for being too weak. She could feel her anger rising more and more, and the familiar sense of an endless amount of energy filled her body. Her vision was also sharpening, and her muscles began to tremble in anticipation. She just wanted to destroy them all.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

I definitely know too little about this world, and far too little about its creatures! How could I make such a careless mistake? She isn’t ready to fight direwolves yet! I underestimated these damned creatures! I hope that deer rots in hell!

Thistleman cursed to himself as he ran from the direwolves, leading them to the mountain. He was very careful to not outpace them so they don’t give up the chase.

“Devils Sight!”

He used his mana to amplify his racial skill, and his eyes honed in on the Hornet carrying Diane. He could also see a young man, oozing blood and laughing to himself. At the very least, he was thankful for that idiot giving Diane a way out of this mess. He was having incredible difficulty coming up with a way to not only lose those direwolves, but to do so in a way which didn’t harm anyone or anything. He didn’t want to experience the more severe consequences of violating the core tenets of his contract. Just breaking a small order hurt more than enough, and he was still so far from the zenith of his power. This recovery is going so damn slow!

At the very least, the hornets from his world lived in small colonies of 10-12 tops. Diane could handle that at her current ability, and it seems she figured out how to imbue her mana into her weapon. Not too hard to do, you just need to have a good supply to make use of it. As long as he kept feeding her mana, no problems there. Then, these direwolves would get distracted by the free feast, and they could escape. Not bad! Luck is finally on my side today!

Thistleman leaped over a large fallen tree, not too worried about keeping up appearances since he was out of sight of Diane. He looked back, and could see the drool flying out of the direwolves as they chased him down. If their killing intent wasn’t so clear to him, one could easily think they were having fun. Actually, wait? Why wouldn’t killing be fun? His mind is being weird to him again.

Thistleman shakes his head, and continues his route following the hornets.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Diane could see the mountain cliff coming in to sharp relief as her giant hornet approached it. The other two hornets seemed to fly in low for a moment, a strange powder almost dusting off their wings. As soon as they got close enough, she would finish off this hornet and get back on to solid ground, killing any others that got in her way.

That plan hardly lasted for a few seconds, as soon a massive swarm lifted off from the ground, covered in splashed-on blood from their feeding frenzy. More began to erupt from the Cliffside. The powder was a warning pheromone, the hive was under threat. There were easily more than a hundred of them.

However, the fury was already taking hold of Diane. A minute earlier, and she would have been lost in fear… but now, her plan was just to kill. She held on tight to her rapier, as the wind started to pick up in her face, causing her hair to unravel and flow behind her. A black and red aura began to cloak her body.

She grabbed on to a wing-joint with one of her hands, holding it against the Hornet furiously trying to fly. She pulled her blade out of its back, and stabbed it in to the hornet’s eye, piercing its skull and brain. The giant hornet began to descend rapidly, with a crash course for the base of the cliff. However, Diane didn’t want to land… not yet. A the swarm began to thicken and fly towards her, she leaped off the back of the hornet, stabbing straight in to the mouth of another hornet. The blood started to rain down.

She started to smile, a mad laugh escaping her lips. Another hornet was coming up from below. Perfect, it will help her ride higher in to the skies!

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

FUCK! FUCK ME!

Thistleman saw the massive swarm rising in the distance. He was wrong again. Other than his techniques and abilities, he could not rely on any of his creature knowledge from his old world.

This was bad, really bad. Even with the direwolves as a distraction, there were far too many hornets. No matter how much mana he provided to Diane, eventually they would swarm over her, and she would get torn to pieces and die. The direwolves would have no problems killing large numbers of the hornets, but it would be nowhere near fast enough.

SHIT! What do I do?

As he brought the direwolf pack close to the hornet’s nest, he could see Diane leaping between hornets in the sky, dropping them like flies. The smell of fresh blood excited the pack in to a frenzy.

“Warp.”

Thistleman disappeared from in front of him, but the direwolves didn’t worry about it for a moment. Now they had new prey. One of the wolves sprinted up the side of a large tree, leaping off of it and snatching a hornet out of the air. The wolf was easily twice its size, and the hornet came crashing to the ground. With a single, precise bite, the dire wolf tore the head off the hornet. Immediately, the other direwolves started to do the same, methodically ripping giant hornets from the air and beheading them. This was the worst-case scenario for the hive, it was fight or die. Swarms of hornets began to descend in a desperate defense against the wolves. Giant hornet larvae are a rare and challenging delicacy, and if the direwolves made it in to the nest, without a doubt all the larvae would get eaten, the queen killed, and the hive would die off.

The bugs concerns, however, were not Thistleman’s concerns. He was in the middle of an existential crisis of self. He needed to help Diane. But, if she dies, he could be freed from his absurd contract. But, if he lets her die, what effect would such a disloyal action have on him? What does he actually care, she is just a damn human! He only needed her to stay alive! Plus, the contract states he cannot hurt her or anyone, ever. Do monsters count as an “anyone”? Is it only sentient creatures? Do I want to find out? She definitely didn’t want me killing anything. Plus, she thinks I am a peasant and clearly doesn’t want me acting a demon! But I am a demon! And A peasant can’t go around killing things!

“AHHHHHHHHHHH!” His head hurts, it hurts so bad…. He hates it. He hates this situation. He hates her. He cares for her. He wants her to die. He wants his master to live. Its maddening. How can he get out of this? How can he…

An extraordinarily sharp pain cuts through his shoulder. His eyes, wide, Thistleman looks at his shoulder, but doesn’t see a wound.

“What the…”

He doubles over, the pain much worse. He looks quickly for Diane, and spots her. She was looking at him, and when distracted, the claws from one of the hornets cut through her shoulder. How… how can he drive them off? He is running out of time, and now she’s hurt! He couldn’t imagine what he would suffer if she died, but that pain… he never felt anything like it before. An absolute, piercing, unstoppable pain. The consequences of failing his contract scared him.

Then… he had a realization. He could still help Diane without killing, and he could also do so without any “demonplay”, as she put it. He simply could be both, a demon and her little peasant. But… he also wanted her dead. He wanted out. Or did he? Fulfilling the contract meant he would keep his life, but then, did that mean that failing it would….?

“AHHHHH, DAMN IT ALL! Here we go!” He made his decision. Her will, her authority, he will accept it as absolute. Diane Culaine, Master of Demons, don’t let me down!

“Hall of Mirrors, I call upon you, and cast my vision in perfect clarity. Mirror Image!/ Warp!/ By the art of the skies, unbounded by law, I defy you! Levitation!”

A perfect copy of Thistleman was placed on the ground before him, every detail an exact mirror image of himself, before he disappeared high in to the sky above the mountain. Through the power of his magic, he would defy gravity itself, and floated in the air. Now, for the Finale. Even if all his prior knowledge was wrong here, there was one trait all creatures shared, and that was fear. If this would fail, then nothing would work. He would release his aura, and with it a cloud of powerful miasma. He had never seen a creature that didn’t flee from his approach when his powers were unleashed. Only sentient beings had the force of will to overcome his presence.

“From the farther pits of hell, I call upon the powers of shadow and darkness! Show my true form and unleash despair!”

His body quickly morphed, its height rapidly increasing and mass returning to his formerly scrawny limbs, as a massive fog of miasma began to explode from his body. The Demon Lord of Destruction was making an appearance.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The pain in her shoulder was intense, but Diane couldn’t let up now. She couldn’t die. Thistle is waiting for her down below! If I stop now… he won’t make it. He lost everything, just as I did! He lost his entire village and chose to stay with me!

She managed the leap on top of another hornet, stabbing it through the head. She was afraid, and was losing blood quickly. She couldn’t keep this up. However, even with the sun setting… it was getting dark way too quickly. Then… she felt a burning sensation on her chest. It was something she had never felt before, and caused her to double over in pain, holding tightly on to the giant hornet’s falling corpse.

She couldn’t see it, but on her chest, a mark was beginning to form, forged in to her very skin. She didn’t know what was going on, and even if she saw it, she wouldn’t know what it was. She had been accepted as the master of a contract, her new status seared into her flesh. From the seal, she could feel an overwhelming power, and a sea of emotion. She looked above, and could see a huge cloud of darkness, growing and spinning faster and faster. An aura, dark and terrible, rained down on all the creatures below. The hornets… the direwolves, even the bugs and birds, all of them were fleeing as fast as they could move.

*PITIFUL CREATURES, WHO DARE TO STAND IN THE PRESENCE OF ONE WHO I HAVE ACKNOWLEDGED AS WORTHY OF BEING MY MASTER?*

*BEGONE, OR FACE THINE END!*

The air and earth shook at the proclamation, and large boulders came loose, tumbling down the mountain. The authority of the First and Eldest Demon Lord, even in his weakest state, is not something any ordinary creature could look down upon or face.

Diane’s vision was becoming blurry, and she could only barely see the outline of the being at the center of the maelstrom. She couldn’t hold on anymore and lost too much blood. She passed out.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Diane woke up a short while later. Night had fallen, and she was next to a small fire. Her shoulder had some fresh bandages around it, and Haraldr was also patched nearby. She looked over and could see Thistleman working fervently at the pot over the fire.

She was about to sit up and speak, when Thistleman held up a finger to shush her. He was really focused on the pot.

“Save your energy, you’re really hurt.”

While she was passed out, Thistle had quickly grabbed some monster cores out of the dead hornets and a backpack dropped near a messy, meaty splotch on the ground. He carried them out of range of his falling miasma, before he remembered Haraldr, who had also been picked up by the hornets. He figured Diane also wouldn’t want him to die, and worse still, if he was still alive when the miasma reached the Cliffside, then technically, he would be responsible for killing him. So Thistleman saved Haraldr too.

Both of them were gravely injured, and wouldn’t survive a rough journey back in to town. However, Thistleman had never made a healing potion before. He had, on the other hand, practiced in making numerous other alchemical items, like firebombs, poisons, and other strange offensive combinations. So he wasn’t inexperienced in alchemy. He just never made anything positive. Which is why he is now on his third attempt to brew a health potion. If he can’t pull it off now, he is pretty sure that his patients might die.

He stared more intently at the brew, and the moment he saw the first bubble rise, he pulled it off the heat. Then, he took out the Tonba Berry paste he made, and mixed it with the brew. He knew the ingredients necessary from the list they were given, and based on his experience he could theorize up to five of the most likely methods to make a potion from the ingredients. He picked the best three of those five to go with, based on the time constraints.

He breathed a sigh of relief when the brew turned a light pink color in the bowl.

“Alright Diane, relax. It’s going to be a little warm.”

“Mmhmm, ok. I trust you.”

She winced a little when the brew was poured on her shoulder, but then started to relax a little as the pain faded.

“That… feels a lot better. Since when did you learn to make potions?”

“I… I saw someone doing it when I was young. I was just trying to improvise from what I saw.”

That wasn’t a lie. He did see someone working on potions when he was young. Over 10,000 years ago.

“Ok, seems I have a bit left over. Not the strongest stuff, but it will save his life.”

He walked over and poured the potion on Haraldr’s numerous wounds. Some of them started to close over a little, and a very thin membrane of skin covered the larger gashes. His labored breathing stabilized a little bit.

“Alright, he should be fine to be moved now. Diane, can you walk?”

“Y-yes, I should be fine!”

She carefully stood up, and made sure not to move her damaged shoulder too much.

In the darkness of nightfall, they carefully and quietly made their way back in to town.