Lady Sarinknell drew back her spear of blood and stabbed it through the back of her uncle’s neck, ensuring his death. I would have thought she’d be exultant, yet all I could see on her face was exhaustion. Despite her victory, I suppose it was hard for even demons to be happy about this grisly business. Now that our battle was done, I was aware of the sounds of fighting still coming from outside. Steel rung against steel and the injured or dying cried out.

I must have been able to hear them the whole time we were in Lord Sarinknell’s room, but in the heat of the moment I’d tuned them out. It appeared Lord Sarinknell’s intervention hadn’t been enough to end the fighting which meant our work was far from done. “Are we going out there?”

The blood withdrew into Elmidath’s body and she took a deep breath. “Now we just need to mop up whatever’s left of the Tertiums, and my home will be secure.” She strode out of the room, pausing at the doorway when she realised we weren’t following. “Well? What’re you waiting for?”

Shaking myself from my daze, I hurried after her with Korzan by my side, armour clinking. We passed Tagath, and Elmidath said to him, “Wait for us here, we shan’t be long.”

As we walked through the corridor outside, it occurred to me how far we had to go before we reached the ground floor. “Are we just going to run the whole way?” A run through the manor in full equipment right before a battle didn’t much appeal to me. Not that I was overly fond of doing cardio in the first place.

Elmidath didn’t so much as look back. “There’s not a lot of other options, unless you particularly fancy jumping out one of the windows into the battle. I think it’s best we stick together for now.”

I shrugged, it made sense. Resigning myself to running, we sped through the manor. By the time we arrived, panting, the battle was all but over. The soldiers on both sides were spent, a few of the Tertiums were limping around but there wasn’t a single Primis standing. None of the Tertiums looked like they could put up much of a fight but there were still the other, unknown demons, beyond them.

Having thrown all their javelins, the pair had drawn their swords. They had lighter armour than the fallen Primis soldiers, with only mail protecting most of their body including little metal hoods that left their faces bare. It seemed liked they’d been standing around talking when we emerged.

Their chatter ceased and they stared at us. Elmidath shouted, loud enough that I flinched, for them to identify themselves. The pair exchanged a few words, sheathed their swords and approached until they were within easy speaking distance.

The lead figure squared his shoulders and drew himself up. “I am Yorshuk- “the rest of his introduction was cut short when Elmidath’s blood lance shot forward and went right through his eye. Fumbling for his sword, Yorshuk’s companion charged, his face a mixture of fear and outrage.

Given that he was coming right for us, it wasn’t hard to guess which emotion won out. I glanced at Elmidath as she dissolved her weapon, wondering if we should move forward to engage the lone demon. She gestured for me to proceed and I stepped forward, brandishing my sword. Korzan drew her own blade and stood to my left.

Seeing us bar the path to Elmidath, the assailant changed course, heading for me instead. I suppose I must have looked like the easier target of the two, lacking a shield or Korzan’s heavy armour. And, if I’m being honest, I was definitely the easier target in terms of skill. He tried a wild slash at my head which I parried with equal ineptitude.

After I exchanged a few blows with him to little result, Korzan found an opening and jammed the tip of her weapon into his chest. The mail links split apart at the impact, blunting the force of it but not enough to save the demon wearing them. Korzan left him on the ground, bleeding and helpless. And with that, the attack was over.

We’d weathered the storm and Elmidath had regained her ‘rightful’ position. All it had cost was extensive damage to the manor’s grounds and the loss of almost all the soldiers at our disposal. I suppose this is what you call a pyrrhic victory. Or was it even worse than that?

Bone-weary, I went with Korzan to finish off the surviving Tertiums who were too weak to flee and dragged the single surviving Primis inside for treatment. His arm was shattered, with much of the bone exposed. There was no chance of him keeping the arm, but Tagath thought he might live. Lacking either magical or modern medicine, it seemed unlikely, though I can’t say I know too much about treating serious injuries.

Elmidath had already gone inside and hadn’t called for me, so I assumed I had some time to myself. Sitting down in the dirt, I stared out at the battlefield. The once well-tended grounds were a scorched ruin, littered with the corpses of demons. As I sat there thinking, I wondered if this was to share their fate; dying in some pointless battle at my master’s behest.

It was possible I might get a more peaceful life one day, if I survived, but from how things had gone that was looking a long way off. If Elmidath’s late uncle hadn’t been able to hold this place with far more soldiers than we possessed, how were we supposed to manage it?

As far as I could see we were doomed, and I was bound to end up just like the corpses around me sooner or later. And for what? The ambitions of a petty tyrant? Not exactly a cause I wanted to fight for, let alone die for. But other option was there? As far as I could tell, it was either die now or die later.

I couldn’t claim to have a deep understanding of Elmidath’s character, but I understood her enough to know there was no chance she’d let me go. What was even the point of this victory then? It might have helped her, but it did nothing to improve my lot in life. And its not like I owed her anything, quite the opposite in fact.

After all that struggle, what had I achieved? The opportunity to further suffer the horrors of this world? What a wonderful fantasy world I’d ended up in, it was truly fantastic. The more I thought about it, the better dying now seemed. I was probably going to die horribly either way, why not avoid all the ordeals that I was sure to face?

Now that my thoughts turned in that direction, I recalled the berry the forest spirit had given me. It must have only been a few days ago, but it felt like a lifetime. I hadn’t thought I’d actually use it back then, maybe I’d been more optimistic. Quickly, before my resolve could fail me, I took it from my pocket and crushed it between my teeth.

I closed my eyes and waited for it to take effect, hoping it wouldn’t be too painful. Not that a bit more suffering really bothered me at this point, so long as it was a quick death. A few seconds passed and I still wasn’t feeling any different, when a bright light appeared before me. I opened my eyes and saw the light coalesce into a tiny humanoid figure made of leaves, while little flashes of colour appeared around it like miniature fireworks.

“Surprise!” the diminutive effigy shouted, beaming.

I stared at her, completely at a loss.

“I can see you’re surprised, so let me explain. It was actually an enchanted berry that summoned a little copy of myself to you, isn’t that amazing?”

Seeing my lack of reaction, she continued, “Er, I thought it might cheer you up. I assume you’re feeling down if you ate the berry… Is everything okay?”

I looked down at my lap. “I thought it was poison.”

Her eyes went wide. “Oh. Um. Then you were trying to…” She hovered in silence for a few moments before continuing, “Well, this is super awkward. But, hey, you should still cheer up? Or is that insensitive? I can leave if you’d prefer.”

I shrugged, all I felt now was apathy tingled with a faint sense of regret.

“Then I guess I’ll keep talking. I understand that your problems seem big right now but relatively speaking they’re only minor?” She stopped and shook her head. “Never mind, that just makes it seem like I’m being dismissive.” Floating down beside me, the little leaf woman sat down. “This is really hard.”

But despite sounding so discouraged, it wasn’t long before she tried again. “Isn’t there anyone who’ll be sad if you die?”

Sad? About me? Elmidath would probably be pissed off, but that was about it. I doubt Korzan would care. “No.”

“Oh, that really sucks.” She sat there thinking, then took to the air again. “How about this then, I’ll be sad.”

“Why? You don’t even know me.”

“I’ll still be sad.”

“Bullshit, what do you care about my life?”

“Well, you seem like a unique person, at least in our world, so losing you would be a tragic waste. That’s still not very convincing really, is it?” She sighed. “You’re pretty much right. But I’m still not out of ideas, maybe you just need something to look forward to.”

“Yeah, like what? What could I possibly have to look forward to in this shitty world?”

“If there’s nothing here for you now, then we’ll just have to come up with something. For example, you could come and visit the forest. There’re all sorts of amazing things to see here, like Soarister’s palace. And I’m sure there’s lots of plants and animals that you’ve never seen before.”

None of that sounded appealing, but there was a sincerity to her words that was touching. “Look, it’s fine. I’m over it now.” This whole ridiculous situation had destroyed my resolve, so I guess she’d been at least partially successful.

“Good, good. What made you want to do, um, that, anyway?”

“The same problems as when I first came to this world and met you, I guess. My life here is just shit.” I’d tried to stay positive, and focus on what I could do, but everything that I’d been through, everything that Elmidath had put me through, had finally worn my façade down to nothing.

“Then you need to be more proactive. I’m sure if you talk to the person you’re bound to, that you can work something out that makes things more bearable for you.”

“There’s no point, she won’t listen.”

“Have you tried?”

“Not exactly, but- “she flew right up to my face and said, “Then you’re giving up too quickly. If you’re not going to talk to her, then I’ll do it on your behalf.”

“Fine, I’ll do it myself.” The little pride I had left forced me to at least take charge here. Even if it wouldn’t result in anything.

“That’s the spirit, I’m sure if you keep at it, you’ll be able to change things for the better. Anyway, I should probably head off again.”

“Wait, aren’t you going to stay for the talk at least?” I was surprised to find myself a little saddened at the prospect of her leaving.

“I wasn’t planning on it, it would be kind of rude for me to eavesdrop on something so private. Probably best that you handle it between the two of you.”

She actually had a sense of shame? It certainly hadn’t seemed like that before. “Fine then, go.”

“It was nice seeing you again, I wish you good luck in improving your life. If you ever want to talk, all you need to do is call.” Waving, she began to fade away. “Bye-bye.”

It was only when she was gone that I realized I had no idea what she meant by ‘call’.