The leaves ahead rustled, Pajaran unable to sneak properly. Not that Stathis could manage much better, having to stand at an awkward angle, her back protesting, trying not to fall over. The gloom was still omnipresent around them, sight limited to a few dozen paces at most. The usual sounds of the forest were muted, animals making confused chirping noises when disturbed, unsure if they should be asleep or not.

Stathis heard movement, tree branches snapping and an explosive grunt of effort, Vrintar doing something. A murmur of unease went through the Sethans, gathered together into a rough circle. Some of them had managed to arm themselves, scavenging up basic weapons as they moved, although nothing that would stand up to sustained combat. Stathis tried to see where the noise ahd come from – somewhere over that way, but beyond what she could see.

‘Semari? You around? Any idea what’s out there?’

Some leaves drifted down from above, Semari’s head poking out from between branches.

‘There’s a village, up ahead. Looks like they’ve holed up. Lots of pointy sticks ready, didn’t look too friendly. They’re right on top of the bridge though, so can’t get by unless you want to walk through a river. I mean, I can do that, but you’re armour’s a bit heavy!’

‘How far? Be right on top of us, at least if we could see shit.’

Another sound came through the darkness, arrows being loosed then hitting – most sounded like they were hitting the ground or trees, but a few sounded like they were striking flesh.

‘What’s going on?’

‘Undead, I think. Pretty dumb ones, but, like, a decent sized group.’

Vrintar’s battle-cry rang out, loud enough to make more leaves descend.

‘Crap, we’ll have to help her!’ Stathis rose and drew her sword, running towards the sound. Semari ran past her, a blur of speed. There was a cart-track, easy to follow, worn and rutted, and Stathis charged along it. Arrows had embedded themselves into the loose mud, and she ran past dead bodies – most looked like undead, forcibly destroyed again, hacked and smashed apart.

The sounds of Vrintar’s destruction were easy to follow, axes shattering bone and slicing through flesh, along with the sounds of violent clamour, arrows thrumming, orders being shouted.

The darkness peeled away, revealing a patchwork of trodden-over and damaged fields, with a few stone-built farmhouses scattered between them. Bodies were scattered along the ground, before an arrow ricocheted off her armour, from somewhere out of sight. A limb flew towards her, severed from a body, grey and bloodless. Stathis pushed forward, glad that the ground was dry and firm underfoot.

A writhing horde came into vision, scrabbling beneath a stone wall. It was only about twice the height of a man, long poles being used to try and keep the zombies away. Dead bodies were piled about, creating a rough ramp that more zombies were using to try and get onto the walls. One jumped upwards, rough and uncoordinated, grabbing at the poles.

Stathis charged forward, thrusting her blade into the pallid skin of another zombie, holy fire burning through dead flesh. It crumbled into ash, body fading away even as it disintegrated. Another one was smashed into chunks by Vrintar, emerging from beneath a pile of them, several of them still grappled onto her, trying to slow her down, without success.

Stathis cut and chopped through several more, trying to break their bodies apart to ensure they were properly dead and unable to get up again. She sliced through until she was close to the wall, then spun – the fields were full of the things, all shambling forward.

‘Hakara! Take them out!’

The air turned cool, thick chunks of ice starting to smack downwards. They hit with enough force to send up clods of dirt, but where they hit the zombies, the ice storm shattered flesh and bone. Stathis raised her shield, the shards of ice ricocheting off the wood, with enough force to rattle and jar her arm. Arrows shot from the darkness, skewering another zombie, striking with enough force to punch straight through the bodies.

That quickly cleared the immediate area, Stathis moving away from the pelting force of the ice-pellets, impacts starting to make her arm ache. There were more of the things stepping into vision – they were unarmoured and unarmed, looking like locals that had been raised up. Hopefully the living wouldn’t be too offended by her treatment of their dead!

‘There’s no end to them.’ Bone crunched and splintered as Vrintar hacked away the ones that had been grappling her.

‘The village must have been here long enough to have a big graveyard!’ Light streamed from Stathis’ sword as she cut through another.

‘Cremation solves a lot of problems.’

‘Bit bloody late for that!’ The wall gave them protection along one flank, but there was still a massive group heading towards them. ‘Dammit, is this happening everywhere?’

You could simply dispose of the leader. That would likely have an effect.

Stathis looked around, unable to see Janaxia in the darkness, having to shout and hope she could be heard. ‘What leader? I can’t see a damn thing!’

Janaxia tutted, sounding disappointed. Away from the walls, towards that larger outbuilding. I trust you can see at least that far?

It was at the outer limits of Stathis’ vision, but she could make out a large barn, on the edge of her vision. She immediately charged towards it, a ghostly form flitting into the darkness inside. Stathis gave chase, running inside. A wraithly form turned towards her, ragged robes fluttering in a chill breeze. Red pin-prick eyes glared at her before it swooped forward.

She made her sword burn with holy power, banishing the shadows, illuminating the insides of the barn. The wraith stopped, shielding its eyes, and giving Stathis a clear opening. She sliced through the things body. With the power flaring through the sword, it was easy to cut through it, the ghostly body offering little resistance before she drew back and lunged, thrusting her blade into a crimson eye-socket.

It screeched, before the grey shape faded away into nothingness. Stathis was still blazing with light as she looked around, making sure that there were no other attackers before leaving.

Outside, the air was suddenly still and silent, the clamours of combat having gone away. When she walked forward, she could see that the defenders on the wall were staring at her, before letting out a loud cheer.

The gates opened, a group of townsfolk rushing out towards her, cheering and waving their weapons.

‘A holy warrior, sent by the heavens!’

Stathis tried to dismiss her light, but the warm glow along her blade refused to fade away. Even when she sheathed her sword, her armour still shone with a soft, solar, energy. One of the crowd slowly reached out to touch her armour, the light shining off dirty and worn clothing.

‘A saviour!’ They gathered around, eyes wide with astonishment, the glow from Stathis pushing back the darkness a bit, making the surroundings less oppressively gloomy. ‘You slew the monster!’

‘Uh, yes. No problem. Is everyone OK?’ Stathis looked at the assembled group – they looked tried, drained and exhausted, their clothing ragged and worn, all holding improvised weapons. ‘If there’s anyone injured, then we can heal you.’ She tried to look past them, looking for Pajaran.

‘A saviour! Our thanks, brave and noble warrior, for delivering us from this wickedness. Will you seek to drive back this endless night?’

‘I, well… I don’t think I can do that. There’s been a…’ Stathis tried to remember some of the words Hakara had used, then tried to put them into something that didn’t sound terrifying, before giving up. ‘…magical accident, which is producing all the undead and probably other things. I’d advise that you dispose of any bodies, to stop them rising up again.’

The crowd parted, two people carrying a stretcher. A child was stretched out, flesh pale and sweaty, clothing wet and stiff with blood, panting and fevered, their dark hair plastered to their forehead with sweat.

‘Please, heal them!’

Stathis looked around for Pajaran, unable to see through the crowd. The child looked badly injured, barely hanging onto life. She reached out and carefully touched their forehead – even through her gauntlet, she could feel the fever-heat of their skin, their body fighting to hang onto life. Having everyone stare at her felt awkward, but golden light washed out of her, making the place seem like it was in bright daylight rather than perpetual gloom. The child’s breathing slowed to an easy rhythm, their flesh gaining colour and firmness.

Another gasp of awe ran through the crowd, several of them clasping their hands together in prayer.

‘It’s just a healing spell!’ That didn’t seem to dissuade them, as Pajaran shoved her way through, the crowd moving away from her armoured figure. She moved to inspect the child before nodding.

‘Well, saves me the work.’ She raised her voice. ‘If anyone else has immediate injuries, step forward!’

‘Little bit drill-sergeant.’

‘Seems the easiest way. And they’ve clearly had a rough time.’ Pajaran grabbed at one of them, incanting a spell, a cool rush of energy flowing from her hand, the person’s wounds fading and vanishing. ‘Don’t hide your injuries! I could see that arm was barely hanging on.’ Stathis stepped back as attention suddenly switched to Pajaran, more townsfolk with injuries stepping forward.

‘Who’s in charge here? If you have space, we would like to rest here, we’ve travelled far.’ Stathis looked through the crowd, eyes resting on an old man carrying an ornate stick. He met her eyes, looking awkward.

A sudden murmur of fear ran through them, most of them turning, readying weapons. Janaxia’s disc moved into sight, Janaxia sat atop in full regal poise. An arrow shakily shot towards her, Janaxia flicking her hand to knock it aside with a bolt of shadow.

The crowd melted backwards, reforming behind Stathis, making angry sounds.

‘Witch!’ Another arrow shot out, Janaxia looking annoyed now. ‘Kill her!’

‘She’s with me! Don’t attack her!’

‘She’s with the monsters! Destroy her!’ The shout came from behind Stathis, from somewhere in the crowd, angry mumbles getting louder.

Stathis strode forward, heading towards Janaxia before turning around. ‘This woman is no enemy! Despite her appearance.’ She heard an irritated grumble in her mind. ‘She is an accomplished practitioner of combat magic, and has proven her worth in may fights, and is a potent ally.’ The grumble changed to something closer to a satisfied purr, Janaxia looking smug, resplendent in her robes. The affect was slightly undercut by Semari jumping onto the back of the platform, Janaxia spinning it to try and throw her off.

‘Please allow us the hospitality of your town! In exchange, we will protect you from the monsters that will likely arise.’

Oh? Well, this is rather isolated, but I suppose if one has to start a kingdom, at least there are people here.

‘We have some refugees with us – if you can spare any room and other supplies, then that would be appreciated.’ She could hear the sounds of squabbling getting closer, Semari and Janaxia wrestling, or, more likely, Semari clamped onto Janaxia and slowly grappling her into submission. ‘We ask for your aid and assistance, so all may survive these times of woe!’

Would you kindly get this oafish dolt away from me? The sounds of strain and grunts of effort were getting louder. Stathis flared her wings, hoping that the bright lights would distract some of the attention from whatever was going on, lowering her voice and hoping that Semari could be bothered to obey.

‘Put Janaxia down! Try and behave properly until we’ve convinced them she’s not part-demon.’

‘We sure she’s not?’ There was the sound of Janaxia’s body being bent around as she protested. Quite why I associate with you reprobates, I know not! This really is rather excessive!

‘Semari, let her go! I think you’ve demonstrated she’s not an evil demon queen enough.’ Stathis heard Janaxia take a deep breath as she was released, clothing rustling as she attempted to reassert her poise and dignity. ‘Now go and mingle and try and relax everyone. And don’t tell them anything about the hole in the world! We don’t need them getting any more nervous and upset. Just try and reassure them.’

‘They better have at least some booze!’

‘It’s a small town in the middle of nowhere, don’t take them for too much! They probably have some local delicacy though. And Janaxia, try to go easy on the spiky bits. They’re not used to anyone like you – they’re probably going to have issues with Hakara as well, but you do stand out rather more. And use your actual voice when speaking to them!’

As her wings flared behind her, the crowd of townsfolk were looking on in open awe, several of them throwing themselves to the ground.

This does seem rather unfair! Simply because I prefer a darker aesthetic, one with a little more complexity.

‘I think it’s rather more the horns and spikes. Either way, they’re going to be very suspicious of the Sethans. Think of yourself as an ambassador.’

Hmmm, that is a position of some importance. Yes, I suppose that will suffice. Depending on how long this state of affairs lasts, then we may be here for quite some time, I suppose. Especially if creature attacks are more common – the more heavily-settled areas must be undergoing quite some disruption at the moment.

‘And there’s whatever is going on with your family! If they get organised, then they’re going to be coming after both of us. If your mother somehow survived all of that. And Zarazonnia, if she made it through. This is going to be a nightmare. And I’ve no idea how far this darkness extends – it’s going to bugger up the harvest and gods only know what else. And…’ She trailed off, slowly walking forward, Janaxia’s disc just about visible on the edge of her vision. The townsfolk were still staring at Stathis were wide eyes, those that weren’t genuflecting on the crowd.

She sighed. ‘Dammit, this is why I try to hide stuff like this.’

‘Really? I find it rather gratifying to be worshipped. It is rather good for one’s ego. I just hope that some of their rather overt admiration for you will transfer over to myself.’

‘Maybe just stick to being a strange wizard? And please don’t tell anyone your name. We’ve got enough problems already, without having to persuade people not to burn you at the stake.’

Hmph.

‘Look, once we’ve got some time, then we can sit down and talk through a lot of things. I know you’ve been going through a lot recently, and it’s been hard. But you need to try and open up! You’re not easy to talk to. Do you want me to see if there’s a bath or something that can be set up for you?’

That sounds nice. Yes, I think the chance to rest would be welcome. And I suppose I should show the locals not to judge people by appearence. I will have to instruct Sen that the others are to be on their best behaviour.