Kayla looked around, noticing the scattered people and the forest fire. As much as she wanted to extinguish it and protect the forest, that wouldn’t be as easy with so much. Several spikes fell from the sky, piercing two civilians, making her turn her gaze upwards.

Her eyes widened as she looked at the horrendous creatures, as if they were sent by god to exterminate the mortals. It was a lion, a bone tail moving in a serpentine way, as if it had a life of its own. The most horrifying feature, however, was its face.

The face of an attractive woman laughed gleefully as it tore through the people below, drenched in blood and twisted into a grin. Kayla raised her sword, pointing it at the creature.

“By the name of our Lord Vilges, I command you to withdraw!” She shouted, her blade and armor shining a bright white, bringing the light of the sun to the night.

A cackle escaped the beast’s mouth as it landed beside Kayla. She looked at it, straight in the eye, with eye full of resolve. The blessing wouldn’t last long, but it would keep her alive even if her head fell straight off for a few seconds, and that was enough time for her to fight back.

Another one landed next to it, with a male face. Kayla wanted to turn tail and run, but her people were here, and as the warrior princess, she couldn’t run. She placed the sword in front of her, pointing downwards and used it as a staff.

A blinding light, far stronger than that of her lit up the clearing, and most would wonder if it was morning already. The light had a yellow tint to it, making it all the more sun-like. She wouldn’t turn her head, as she already knew who it was.

It was none other than the Cardinal of Humility, and her master, Richard. She felt the warming feeling as she had in the church, and the embrace of god. Kayla couldn’t help but smirk, after all, the creatures wouldn’t dare move against a divine’s presence.

The first beast tilted its head, and whipped its tail at her. Kayla instantly pulled out the sword, and brought it before her, but it was late. The tail had been too fast. She closed her eyes, awaiting her doom. All she hoped for was that it would be painless.

A scorching heat at her neck forced her to move back, and she opened her eyes. Richard’s blade had been placed before her, and parried the tail. With a bow, Richard spoke. “I hope my humble opinion is acceptable, but I do not think you are allowed to leave this place.”

The light grew from his sword, and enveloped the area around him, his hair and everything turning into a majestic white color.

Richard swung his sword at the male, the female one blocking it with her tail and the male retaliating with several spikes, sent Richard’s way. He parried them with little effort, but his blade fell to the ground afterwards, his hand with it. It was as if the man was trying to lift the legendary sword, without the right to.

“W-what?” He mumbled under his breath. The beasts’ grins grew wider as they approached the man, licking their lips. As the female one opened its mouth wider than possible for a human, revealing razor sharp fangs, Kayla tightly shut her eyes

“Gyaaaaaah!”

A scream sounded out through the forest. The cardinal couldn’t have fallen so easily. If so, the world would come to ruin.

Then it struck her. It was a female scream.

She opened her eyes with relief, and noticed a boy, no older than she was. She noticed the boy instantly. It was the sorcerer. However, he seemed to be burning, a blue flame covering his body.

He stood before the screaming monster trying to pick the thing stuck in its… head. More specifically, eyes. The creature screamed in pain and the grin on the male’s face turned into a scowl. It growled threateningly and shot several spikes at him.

“Dodge!” Richard shouted, leaving his sword on the ground and appearing next to Kayla. The physical prowess boost hadn’t disappeared yet, even as his hair turned back to its original color and the light constantly dimming.

Then the boy did the impossible.

He walked through the spikes, as if they were stuck in time. He did it with so much ease even Richard’s mouth fell agape. He grabbed the cardinal’s fallen sword, with one hand as if it was nothing at all, and he sprinted towards the creature frantically shooting dozens of spikes at the boy.

None hit him.

Then he was next to it, slashing the creature’s neck, or that was what would have happened. The sword dissipated into nothing as it reached the creature’s fur. The boy jumped back, the female one now turning to look at him with its one good eye, the knife taken out with her tail.

“Chicken’s foot! The boy’s not even a priest, for Vilges’ sake, why did I even bring a church blade to an expedition?” Richard mumbled as he constantly hit his head with his palm.

Kayla noticed the boy didn’t mind, and proceeded to create a ball of flame in his hand. It had a soothing feeling, unlike the crimson flames filling the forest. It was just like… the gentle light of the moon.

He threw it.

The ball exploded, creating even more flame and covering the creatures. Pained screams sounded out from inside, and it left no traces of the evil creatures.

The burning boy walked up to Kayla, and grabbed her hand. She felt the cold, burning sensation in her hand, and wondered if it was what the boy felt throughout his entire body. After all, a knight with ten years of training could barely endure it and had to close one of her eyes and bite her lips to keep quiet.

“Run, as fast as you can.” The boy whispered, and fell down, the flames whittling down into nothing.

***

The soon-to-be army of princess Kayla moved quietly, as if their spirits were broken. Even a cardinal couldn’t defeat one of those creatures, and the fact only sorcerers can stand up to those was rather worrying as well.

Theo awakened to the sound of hooves hitting the ground, and braced himself. But then, he remembered that humans use what they call horses, to travel great distances. Relaxing his body, Theo looked around to find himself on a bed, and two were placed facing each other in the small room. He had been lying on one, it was comfortable if not a little too narrow.

Thinking of last night, it seemed to be all jumbled up. He looked at the carvings and one suddenly lit up, then he lost consciousness. After that, he woke up to find the crimson flame and then he helped the princess. It was vague, as if it was an old memory, though it served its purpose of reminding what happened.

The door opened, startling him. The familiar form of the princess walked in, still dressed in her steel armor and ready to fight. She gave him a serious look, and took a seat.

“What exactly happened last night?” Kayla asked after a while, as Richard jumped into the room with his own question.

“What are you?”

“I’m a hunter.” Theo said as Kayla shook her head.

“I see. Do you hunt those things?” Richard asked with a nod.

“Yes, and they aren’t the worst yet. There are more… terrifying ones there.” Theo explained, and continued after seeing Kayla’s irritated expression. “And as for the other question, I don’t quite know. The rocks lit up, and I lost consciousness. The first thing I did was run back to help you. If only I wasn’t as exhausted, I could’ve done so much more.”

Kayla sighed and closed her eyes. Richard then continued his interrogation.

“What were they?” He asked.

“Boars. Nasty creatures.” Theo answered. “They come from the crimson flame.”

Richard nodded his head and also closed his eyes, silence reigning supreme.

“Take me there, I must put out the flames.” Theo said.

“No. That is impossible. You can only do that alone, we don’t want to endanger anyone.” Kayla instantly answered.

“But boars will start coming from the flame, let’s say, three per day.” Theo said. He remembered his past… he remembered killing those things, too many to count, driven by rage and his flames doing more than possible, destroying them without a trace.

“Then I’d like to ask you go alone.” Kayla said with a serious face.

“I can’t. I need someone to drag me back.” Theo rejected, fearing that he’d most likely be murdered in his sleep. That was just the despicable tactic those boars used.

Kayla nodded her head, and sighed.

“But I do think leaving them there is a good idea.” She said.

“No, that can’t be!” Theo shouted, for the first time. “Those things will destroy everything! Even Richard was easily defeated, we can’t possibly leave them alone.”

“I agree with the princess. The Aveilorn Empire might be left wondering if they are on our side, and would most likely exterminate them. That means their forces would be famished, and we have a higher chance of winning the war.” Richard said, giving his opinion.

Theo shook his head in disdain, clenching his teeth.

“And what if they attack you? Trust me, I know them more than you, and I know they attack the weaker side first. We might have a chance before the third race starts coming out, but after… your world will end.”

“Your world?” Kayla raised her eyebrow.

“I’m not of this world, and my tribe fell first in my own, and the serpents after due to their ignorance, to the hands of the third race. I assure you, they’re far stronger than the ones we fought today.” Theo said through his teeth.

“Listen. The alliance will fall if we fight those monstrosities.” Kayla said. “So-“

Theo didn’t have the need to listen to the woman. She’d doom the world, and Theo didn’t want the tragedy to happen again. Especially when the boars took his tribe down first, and ignored all but the serpents.

They should’ve had a motive of sorts, and that couldn’t be anything good, not at all. He’d much rather go alone, but putting out such a big fire might use up his life force, especially now that it was growing steadily.

“Yes, you’re protecting your people, but once again, I assure you, if Richard was counted strong, then your world is doomed.” Theo said and walked out. Too many people were walking, on the verge of collapsing. They had it rough, and hadn’t slept like him. He could see the forest in the far distance, and the black smoke that should have been there and the crimson flames dancing high.

However, Theo was only met with no smoke, and certainly no fire. That couldn’t have been. It should have released a putrid stench thorough an entire continent, and a black smoke reaching the sky would have been seen.

Hurriedly, he ran to the moving room, overtaking it in seconds. It was moving slowly, to have the civilians keep up. Some had started to fall off, and were put on the moving pieces of wood, pulled by horses.

Richard looked at him with surprise as he jumped back in.

“Tell me, can those ‘mages’ do what I can?” Theo asked as he created a ball of flame in his hand.

Kayla put her finger on her chin, and the both of them shook their heads in answer.