-Al’din-

[A Demon Realm city, closest to Tsumi’din.

The city is known for having the most farms in Spire, and

Its name is a combination of Alyr and Endin, roughly meaning

Farm and City respectively.]

We all gathered at the landing area where Aeth’mobiles were picking up Hunters. A few also dropped off a handful of visitors. When I asked Oroske, he told me none of them were part of the Peace Party, as the Demons’ representatives were already at HQ. “Will there be a large enough vehicle for all of us?” Jarou asked Nadred, both of whom were standing behind Oroske and I. “There might be, but it doesn’t matter. We’re going to be walking all the way there.”

“Oh, right,” Jarou said, his voice filled with undisguised disappointment. “Why do we have to, anyway? Surely we could get to Ish’din by nightfall if we did.”

Oroske turned around to respond, “It’s a long standing tradition,” he began his explanation. “Aeth’mobiles are still a new invention, our forefathers had no other option but to walk. And so we walk as well, to honor the tradition.”

“That’s right. Besides, we’ll be holding conferences in each of the major cities along the way. Getting to Ish’din is only one part of the Peace Party’s journey.” Raen chimed in, separating from his group to join the discussion, “We also walk so we have time to better understand and get to know each other. These parties are the one time every four years we Humans get to converse with Half-Demons and Demons, in more than a business capacity, and really get to know our fellow residents of Spire.”

“Well said, Lord Raen,” Nadred commented, “How are your team’s preparations?”

“We’re all set to leave. How about yours?”

“Once Kared gets here we’re ready.”

“That woman doesn’t have a punctual bone in her body,” Oroske sighed, “Never has.” Just as he finished with a chuckle, he got a hard blow to the head with the flat side of a red broadsword blade.

“When bad mouthing someone, it’s wise to ensure they aren’t around,” Kared’s voice came from behind him. She promptly placed the sword back in her Demon Sheath, as Oroske blinked slowly, not eliciting any other sort of reaction.

“Looks like we can leave then,” Oroske said.

“You let your former apprentice bully you like that, Oroske?” Ranfa teased as she approached, Fyr following behind.

“Normally I’d punish her, but we have company today,” Oroske said, raising a hand to dismiss the claim, “Now then, shall we proceed?”

After the large group unanimously agreed, we began trekking across the bridge, and into the Demon Realm. Oroske, Kared, and I were posted at the front of the pack with Raen and his right and left-hand men. His second in command was a huge, buff man who spoke with very few words. He wore a full suit of armor underneath his white cloak, a sword longer than I was tall swung from his waist. He said his name was Terib when I asked, but afforded me no other words. His third in command was a woman with pretty golden hair and emerald eyes. She wore a white button-up shirt that was tucked into black pants, and the same white cloak as the rest of her comrades. Her name was Vai’ra Dyn’ya, and she was much more open to conversation.

Aeth’mobiles traveling in both directions passed us several times as we crossed the bridge.

“Terib is actually his last name,” Vai’ra was explaining as one passed us, “He and I are both nobles, serving under Lord Raen. As the head of his family, he chooses to go by his last name unless around family and close friends.”

“What about you?” I inquired further.

“I’m the oldest, so I’ll become the family head, but for now my Mother serves as the head. She would usually be here in my place, but she fell ill a few days before we left.”

“I see. So Raen is a Lord?”

She laughed, which embarrassed me, “Sorry, I shouldn’t laugh. Yes, he is one of the Eight Lords that currently rule the Human Realm, and is the head of the Seventh family. I take it you’re not familiar with the history behind the Eight Lords?”

I shook my head to confirm, and I heard Oroske curse as he realized that was something he missed in my re-education.

“Very well, I should be happy to teach you. Some twenty years ago, the Last King, Rel Aerdin IX declared from his death bed that he would not name a successor. Instead, he split his authority as king between his eight children, saying ‘there shall never again be a single king to rule this land.’ And once he died, his children were all named Lords and Ladies. His youngest three, Lord Raen and two of his sisters, were still children at the time, so they had trusted nobles fill their role until they were old enough to take on the seat. In Raen’s case, Terib filled in for him. Up until last year, anyway.”

As I soaked in the information, more questions came to mind. “What’s the normal role of nobles? And how did they become nobles?” I asked.

“Us nobles serve our Lord’s family in any way they require. The Terib family, for instance, are primarily Lord Raen’s advisors. My family serves as our Lord’s representatives in the military. As for how to become a noble, there’s a few ways. In the case of the Teribs, using them as a convenient example again, they were already considered nobles during the Last King’s rule. So when the King passed, they stayed as nobles, and were assigned into the service of the Sen’anum family. For my family, we were made nobles after Lord Raen’s ascension, in recognition of our military presence and prowess, and to fill the role of military representatives.” She took a moment to think. “Another example would be like the Rel family. Their family heads were set to become Rel Er’anum’s successor, back when he was to become the next king. They were meant to be a unifying marriage, between the Human Realm and one of the outlying kingdoms.”

It was a lot to take in. I had no idea there were other kingdoms outside of the Human and Demon Realms. The Human Realm certainly had an interesting governing body. I was curious and excited to learn how the Demon Realm did things.

As she finished her explanation, we were finally across the bridge. We’d only gone a short way, but I was feeling exhausted. The midday, summer sun beating down on us didn’t help either. The road bent not far from the end of the bridge, heading South into thick forest. Unfortunately, the sun wasn’t quite far enough to the East nor West to cover the entire path with shadow, but those on the Western half were relieved to get some shade. An Aeth’mobile whizzed past us, coming from Tsumi’din and heading to some unknown destination. Within less than a minute, they disappeared beyond the next bend, which would take us at least another thirty or so minutes to reach on foot. Many of our party, myself included, sighed at how long our journey was going to take.

I was grateful for the opportunity to chat with Vai’ra. Time seemed to pass quickly while I talked with her. When we weren’t talking, I’d listen to Oroske and Kared talk to Raen. They mostly spoke about the Tsumi Clan’s operations. Oroske mentioned that Danfis apparently wanted to be more transparent about what we do. “Perhaps in an effort to improve general opinion of us,” Oroske theorized. Raen seemed eager to learn as well, and made a promise to return the favor, and provide us with more knowledge and information.

Vai’ra taught me more about the Human Realm’s history. She talked about the Humans’ side of the Grand War, and how the Royal City was one of the last bastions for humans, as the demons almost conquered the entire continent. She said that there was a time they took over the city, and all the humans had left was a single fortress, located by the ocean to the Southwest. “That fortress is now primarily used as a historical site,” she explained, “Though sometimes the military uses it for practice and drills.”

Overtime, the sun dipped further to the West, and the shadows elongated, eventually touching the trees on the other side of the road. The complete shade didn’t last forever, unfortunately. As shortly after we turned around the next bend, we had to go back into the sunlight. It was much cooler during sunset, thankfully.

I wanted to chat with Jarou, but he and Nadred were stuck in the middle of the pack. Supposedly it was set up that way per the escort requirements. There were eight humans between me and them, and an additional six between them and Ranfa and Fyr.

The sun was dipping beyond the horizon, painting the sky red, when we finally arrived at Al’din’s gates. The tall, stone walls jutted out from the ground, the gray stone contrasted by the lush green trees. A feeling of familiarity tingled in the far reaches of my memory, but disappeared quickly.

The walls formed a circle around the city, Oroske told me. “At the North, South, and East entrances, there are very large farms, instead of forests,” he explained further.

We entered the city as yet another Aeth’mobile passed us, slowing down as it passed through the gates. Al’din was the first time the road splits in different directions, when coming from Tsumi’din. The main street was lined with houses and buildings, all the way to the opposite gate. In the center of the city was a roundabout, with a plaza in the center. Every few houses there would be a street big enough to walk through, but not to take an Aeth’mobile. There was one street before the big roundabout that was big enough for the large vehicles. Unlike Tsumi’din, the buildings along the road were of a unified style, mostly stone brick and wood.

People were also out walking around, and I came to the realization I didn’t really know the difference between human and demon. They all looked the same as everyone I’d ever met. The same spectrum of skin and hair colors was present. “Look more closely, specifically at their eyes and ears,” Oroske whispered to me when I asked him about the difference. Upon closer inspection, I realized they all had a few traits that no human I had met did have. Specifically, red eyes, slitted pupils, and pointed ears. When I asked if that was it, he confirmed with a simple nod. He went on to explain that Half-Demons like us can have any combination of human and demon traits. He used myself as an example, I had brown eyes with slitted pupils, and round ears.

Once we had made it to the city center, we spoke with the mayor of the city. We organized the plans for a forum, and planned to begin in an hour. That gave us time to see the city, and the residents time to gather in the city plaza. The mayor offered us a meal, free of charge inside the city hall, which we gratefully accepted. We ate and conversed until it was time to begin the forum.

The forum itself was held just outside the city hall. It lasted what felt like an eternity, but in reality was only an hour and a half. I was told our primary tasks as Hunters was to ensure no fighting broke out, from either side, and to listen attentively to the concerns and complaints of the locals. We would compile all of the topics discussed in order to determine what would be talked about during the conference in Ish’din.

None of the topics really drew my attention, aside from one that caused a bit of anger on both sides. We were worried a fight might break out, but thankfully no such thing happened. The locals vented frustrations and aggressively voiced concerns about a recent terror attack on the city, which happened a couple months before. As the citizens of Al’din were clamoring about the event, Raen stepped to the podium. “I understand your concerns about the attack,” he began loudly, “Rest assured that we already planned to discuss this at the conference. This attack, and the recent attacks like it are unacceptable, and have been happening on both sides of the Rift. We have a thorough investigation already underway, and we are making significant strides in finding the responsible parties. If you have any information, please submit it to the mayor before the end of the night. Thank you.” Somehow, that managed to calm the crowd down, though tensions were still high.

The rest of the forum passed without much issue, and the topics brought up were small complaints and improvement ideas that needed the approval of the Demon Parliament. Once it was over, we retired to our designated lodgings.

Oroske and I had six people in our room, including Raen. I’d never slept in a room with that many people, and with some of them loudly snoring it took me a good while to fall asleep, even as exhausted as I was. But eventually, I did fall into a dreamless sleep.

—--

Oroske woke me at the crack of dawn, before any of Raen’s group had awoken. “Come on, Kuro, there’s something I want to show you, and something I want to talk to you about.” He said as he shook me.

He led me out of the inn, and into the central plaza of the city. There, in the very center of the city, the ground material changed color and design slightly, and bore the Tsumi Clan’s emblem. That feeling of familiarity tingled at the back of my mind once again as I looked around. Disappearing quickly as it had before.

“This is a memorial that was built recently,” he began explaining, “the ground here used to match the rest of the city. Last night, you heard them talking about the attack that happened a couple months ago, right?” I nodded, and he continued. “Well, that’s when this happened. There was evidence of the fight left over for a couple weeks after, blocking traffic out of the South gate.” He paused and gave me a strange look. He took a deep breath and exhaled roughly. “That was the night you died. I feel bad for not really telling you about how you died, but I wanted to do it properly.

“You, me, and six other Hunters were dispatched on an emergency mission, a mere week after you got your cloak. We received reports of a human that illegally crossed the Rift, and was targeting Al’din. He slipped past us as we were guarding the city. We confronted him here, in the plaza. He knocked all of us out. He used a powerful, Holy aspected spell that destroyed all non-organic material it came in contact with, in addition to the normal effects of Holy magic. It baffles me, and everyone involved, to this day, how you managed it, but you somehow killed him after the spell had already touched the ground.

“However, as you went straight into the bubble of Holy magic, it immediately began burning your blood. As it covered your entire body, and as small as you are, it killed you almost immediately.”

Something deep in my mind told me there was something he was leaving out, but I couldn’t figure out what, if anything.

“I just wanted you to know that if you hadn’t done that, this entire city would have been destroyed, and the eight of us would have died. You’re a hero for that.” He said, putting a hand on my shoulder, unbridled pride showing in his smile as he looked at me.

“So, have any of your memories come back at all?” He asked me as we walked back to the inn.

“None yet,” I shook my head.

He patted my back, “Well that’s alright. I’m sure they’ll come back with time. I was hoping bringing you here might jog your memory, but if not, that’s okay too.”

We returned to the inn as everyone else was waking up and getting ready for the day. We made plans to purchase food and supplies, and prepare for the next leg of our journey, heading towards the city of Fyrun.