Xellie made her way through the foothills toward the mountains. She stopped for a drink and rested by a stream.

Raye appeared next to her, in her armour.

“I made you something... You need to eat and drink better. Like a warrior.” Raye said, handing over a parcel of warm fish. “You should eat more protein and less of those starchy tubers.”

“I like the tooberoots though,” Xellie replied, pretending to whine a little sniffing the fish, tearing it open. “This is... did you make it yourself?”

“I have some years to make up for,” Raye said penitently, sitting on the grass and drawing her knees up to her chest.

“Walk with me through the pass? It’s haunted you know.”

Raye gave a subtle shrug, casting her eyes away.

“I don’t particularly wish to leave you behind. But I cannot risk it. Not again.”

“I’ll be fine... I’m just playing with you.” Xellie reached out and took hold of Raye’s hand. “Spook stories don’t bother me.”

Whatever had happened in the past that Raye wasn’t able to talk about; seemed to have caused her to be fearful of her superiors. A fact that Xellie was finding to be pitiable. Leaning her head against Raye’s arm, Xellie hoped to get to know Raye better in the future. Because underneath Raye’s cold, hard exterior, seemed to be a caring, yet lonely woman.

“I must go,” Raye said, standing up and looking around the area. “Listen, this is very important. You have a lot of enemies that you don’t know about yet. Never surrender, and never consider anything other than going down with a sword in your hand. What they could do with your soul is a fate worse than death that could last for eternity. Be fierce, and know that I will come, so fight until I do.”

“Wait.”

“I wish I had time to tell you more.” Raye blinked out of sight.

“That’s a little scary. Why would you leave me after saying that?!” Xellie looked up at the sky, then the trees. Where did Raye go?

She looked up at the mountain ahead. It wasn’t a particularly difficult mountain to climb. The path narrowed in a few places and bridged with rope suspension bridges. Despite its reputation for hauntings, the route also passed a well-known beauty spot.

Rumour had it that the area was cursed, visitors were said to disappear, so passers-by would make sure to avoid that area.

There were creepy stories and legends like that all over the world. However, Xellie reasoned these tales were a way to warn others about particularly treacherous routes of travel.

If she wasn’t in such a hurry to reach her brother in the far north, Xellie would have taken the time to explore the area to see if there was any truth to the story.

About midmorning, she stopped to take a break, looking out over the dilapidated fence that was the only barrier between the dirt track she’d been following and a steep fall between the mountains. Nestled among the trees there were visible remains of abandoned buildings. What looked to be farmhouses in complete disrepair.

Contemplating over the stories of vanishing travellers, she heard the sound of mud under foot behind her. This was especially odd as she had seen nobody for miles, before or behind.

As she turned to face the source of the footsteps, she a shove pushed her with great force toward the fence. She dug her boot heels into the grass as the fence behind her fell into the gorge. If she had not heard this person coming up behind her, she would have fallen too, taken by surprise.

The perpetrator was a gaunt-looking man, with a pale sickly complexion and short greasy blonde hair slicked over to one side. He carried with him a moderately long sword, with a chipped and battered blade. He seemed somewhat familiar, though she couldn’t place where from exactly.

“What do you want?!” Xellie exclaimed, snatching her smaller dagger from her belt and holding it before her, edging away from the cliff edge.

“How are...you...here...?” Asked the swordsman, his voice raspy, devoid of emotion.

“That’s none of your business.” She replied, trying to sound cool but actually sounding quite confused as she ran back onto the track avoiding the man lunging at her with his sword.

Fixing her with an angry glare from his red eyes, the swordsman swiped at Xellie with his sword once again, his sword biting into the ground. In reaction, she jumped backwards wondering if it would be smarter to run or fight. This guy obviously wasn’t human. A demon? If that was the case, then running was not going to be feasible.

Without hesitation, the demon lifted his sword, stepped forward and swung it downwards into the ground, missing Xellie by a whisker. She reacted by sidestepping and thrusting her dagger into his abdomen with as much force as she could put into it.

He tilted his head to one side as he turned to face her.

“...shit.” She pulled the dagger sideways, easily slicing through the demon’s body. The lack of resistance caused Xellie to fall backwards to the ground. As the demonic swordsman raised his weapon for another attack, Xellie noticed there wasn’t a visible mark or injury where she had attacked him.

Scrabbling to her feet, she ran from the now frantic slashing of the Demon, looking around the area for anything she could use against him. She couldn’t get close enough to do anything against his now crazed behaviour. Even if she could, it seemed he wasn’t even affected by a blade.

Trees, grass, rocks, mud. Nothing useful here.

Her rucksack was on the ground by the broken fence at the edge of the gorge. She ran toward it, the demon took chase.

Leaning over to grab the bag, she fell to the ground. The Swordsman raced over, plunging his sword downwards. Xellie rolled onto her back, grabbing him by the shoulders. She brought her feet up into his stomach throwing him over her head, and off the cliff.

Rolling back onto her front, she crawled up to the edge to look down into the precipice. There was no sign of the demon.

Hopefully, that was enough. Xellie flipped over onto her back once more and sighed in relief staring up at the sky.

Footsteps crunching into the dry mud alerted Xellie into sitting up. From the direction in which she had been headed, a figure stood, holding two long blades. In his left hand, a broad-bladed weapon, its iridescent blue-silver tip resting lightly against the floor. In his right hand, a long, thin sword with a slight curve to it, tempered from black metal. He wore leather armour painted in blue, and had a square face, with loose shoulder-length dark hair.

Unable to judge this stranger’s intentions as his eyes hid behind the glare of the sun, Xellie sat up, grasping the hilt of the short sword Raye had given her.

“Want something?” she asked fiercely as she stood up.

The man lowered the tip of his dark-bladed sword in response.

“Interesting.” The stranger commented in a soft, deep voice, sounding genuinely curious as he sheathed both weapons at his left hip. “Do you fight with these monsters often?”

“More often than I would like,” Xellie replied, turning to face him. “What business do you have out here?” it wasn’t often that travellers would cross each other on this path.

“I would ask you the very same thing,” he responded, looking down at the sword that Xellie held. “Impressive handling on that demon, by the way. Freelancer?”

“Kinda,” Xellie said casually, dusting herself down. “You?”

“Uhh, well...”

Xellie held her hand up to the stranger signalling him to be quiet. There was no birdsong anymore.

“The wildlife...” She whispered to the swordsman, who lifted the silver blade and gave a nod in response.

Aside from the leaves rustling in the breeze, there was a hollow, almost metallic sound of breathing. Twigs snapped under heavy footsteps as the demon swordsman stepped into view before them. This time, however, the air around him crackled with electricity.

“Oh... not again.” Xellie rolled her eyes with contempt and unsheathed the sword given to her by Raye.

The demonic swordsman raised his battered and chipped blade into the air, then thrust it down to the ground, making the earth shake. Xellie started to lose her balance. Feeling dizzy, she attempted to keep her footing.

The swordsman dashed forward toward Xellie, who was unable to respond as she could barely remain standing.

The stranger muttered under his breath and held his hand outstretched. A sheet of glowing magical haze, golden and blue forming into the shape of a large shield appeared between Xellie and the demon. The haze repelled the demon as he landed his sword on the barrier.

She quickly connected the magical shield to the stranger’s abilities. He was aiding her with magic.

Stunned by what had just occurred and not actually being injured by the demon, Xellie shook her head rapidly and then launched herself into the swordsman. Aiming to slice through him vertically, she missed narrowly. She spun on her heel and felt the sword bite into her target, but she was unable to push it any deeper.

“What the...?!” She exclaimed, pulling the sword free of the demon’s body. “Okay, let’s try this.”

The demon jumped backwards away from the blade, retaining his crouched posture.

Xellie and the demon stared at each other. The magic-using swordsman stood by watching in bemusement.

The demon made the first move, charging at Xellie slashing his sword in a frenzy. She nimbly evaded his attacks by stepping backwards until she came into contact with a tree. The demon’s sword slashed through the air. She ducked and watched as the demon’s sword cut into the tree, getting stuck halfway through the thick trunk.

“Let me help you with that,” she said, backing away from the tree and slicing through it with the sword.

The tree toppled on top of the demonic swordsman, leaving his lower torso and legs sticking out from under the trunk. Not wasting any time, Xellie brought her sword down, through the tree trunk, and through the demon.

The demon gave a broken-toothed grin.

“That.... didn’...t ... wor..k .... lassssssssst time.”

“Yeah well.” She twisted the sword grip, as Raye had shown her. Xellie attempted to block the stranger’s view of her sword, as a lick of silver flame enveloped the sword. “I got a new trick.”

“I refussssssssssse to die to a mediocreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee fighter.” The demon hissed, his body crackling with energy.

“Too bad.” She pulled the sword upward, twisting the grip to turn off the energy blade as she did so. “You just did.”

The demon swordsman evaporated into a black mist, leaving the stranger standing by looking a little shocked.

“What kind of weapon is that?” he asked, as Xellie turned off the energy blade looking very pleased with herself, but exhausted.

“I inherited it.” She replied. “It’s cool though, isn’t it?”

“So you...”

“So you...”

“You first,” the stranger said. “I can guess though. By the way, I am Mattos.”

“I’m Xellie... You specialise in shield magic?” Xellie asked, wiping her blade clean. “A one-way barrier like that takes some serious skill.”

“I was from the school of Alpinheim. We study that there to reduce reliance on physical shields,” he explained. “It’s good to not need the materials for that or armour.”

“I’ve seen that stuff!” Xellie exclaimed. “I didn’t realise you could project the shields to other people. You’re from Alpinheim then?”

“Does it matter?” Mattos answered with a sigh. “I can’t go back there.”

“How come?” she asked, hoping that Mattos wasn’t some kind of murderer... or worse.

“Did you not hear?” Mattos pointed into the valley. “That was Alpinheim.”

“No way!” Xellie ran over to the cliff edge and looked down. “It’s just gone?”

“You’re going to ask what happened.” Mattos sighed and shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I'm not sure I want to get into that.”

“Oh, well.” Xellie took a mental note to ask more about Alpinheim later. “Why do you carry two swords?”

Mattos shook his head and drew his long silver sword and held it out for Xellie to inspect.

“Wow, nice.” She said. “This is coated in silver? You must fight a lot of demons.”

“Yeah,” Mattos replied, sheathing the sword. “I encounter plenty of them.”

“So.... where are you headed anyway?”

“Nordausa. You?”

“Same!” Xellie exclaimed, excited at not having to travel through the mountains alone. “I’m going to visit my brother. He’s a fully sanctioned demon hunter! He and Grau even take requests from the church!”

“Wait, Grau? As in, the exorcist Grau Sherra?”

“Yeah, that Grau.”

“This may be a little forward of me to ask, but do you think I could get a consultation with Grau?” Mattos asked hesitantly.

“They’ll see you for free for helping me! Why do you have a demon problem that needs sorting? Maybe I can help too!” Xellie babbled eagerly. “Whatever the problem is, they’ll solve it, I don’t think they’ve failed a single task ever!”

“I don’t think I’ll be hiring them, I’m not sure I could afford it for the task at hand," Mattos said with a sigh. “Rather, I want some information.”

“Oh well... Grau is a living library when it comes to demons.” Xellie laughed, skipping ahead of Mattos. Talking about her brother always lifted her mood, when she wasn’t living in his shadow.

“Do you visit your brother often?” Mattos called after her, increasing his stride to catch up.

“Hmmm! Kinda. I spend more time looking for him than anything, he’s always travelling around so it’s not very often he’s staying somewhere that I can visit.” she told Mattos, skipping over the part where Niko seemed to leave her behind. “But I really need some information from them right now, I’m doing my own thing, see. I realized something the other day! What’s the point of killing all the small demons when more will just keep coming because of the demon lord?”

“Uh.” Mattos stopped dead in his tracks. “You’re going to fight the demon lord?” he asked incredulously. “You can’t just....seriously?”

“I can just... and I will.” Xellie turned around and looked Mattos dead in the eyes. “Do I look like I’m joking?”

“No...” Mattos tripped over his words, trying not to offend Xellie. “You’re just not quite what I imagined when it came to who could take down Ashmeviti.”

“He’s in for a surprise.” Xellie shrugged off Mattos’ comment and resumed the walk down the mountain.

The two continued down the mountain and into the forest in silence. Xellie wasn’t sure if she should feel a little upset that Mattos didn’t seem to think she was capable of taking on the demon lord. Still, the polite thing to do would be to escort him to her brother and Grau so he could have that free consultation. Maybe it had been a bad idea even to mention that was what she was planning, now he seemed to think she was crazy.

Not everyone believed in the demon lord known as Ashmeviti. It was often rumoured that this particular demon lord was the power source of all demons on the continent. However, nobody had seen him and lived to tell the tale, so Ashmeviti was generally regarded as a myth. Despite this, Xellie was now sure Ashmeviti existed.

The pair walked along the mountain trail, crossing wobbly, unmaintained wooden and rope bridges as the mountain fog began to lift.

Mattos decided to break the silence by striking up a conversation.

“So you’re a demon hunter? Where’d you train?”

“The Jota hunter academy and on the side... I trained under this one guy... Vanis.” Xellie looked over slyly to see Mattos’ reaction.

Mattos widened his eyes slightly.

“No way, THE Vanis? You’re a student of his? I didn’t realise he taught girls.”

“He usually doesn’t but...”

“Have you ever met Niko? One of his students? That guy is so famous. I heard he recently cleansed an entire town with only one other guy helping him.”

“Sounds like Niko.” Xellie sighed. “Yeah, I like to beat his ass sometimes.”

“You spar with him?” Mattos pressed. “Do you win?”

“Almost always.” She said with a shrug.

“No way... You’re just saying that.”

“You’ll see.” She muttered under her breath.

They focused their attention on climbing down the scree to follow the path, silence between them one more.

“Hey, um, Xellie?” Mattos asked.

“Yeah?”

“If you’re insisting on fighting the demon lord, may I come with you?”

Well, that was certainly unexpected. Was it a trick?

“Only if you tell me why.” She replied sternly. “Because I really want to do this on my own without endangering anyone else, so you must have a real good reason.”

“He attacked Alpinheim.” Mattos blurted out. “He and an army of demons overran our defences and established a shrine in the city centre.”

“Is that why you didn’t want to talk about it? He’s the reason the city disappeared?”

“Well... there’s a good chance that if he is dealt with, Alpinheim will be released.”

“So Alpinheim still exists? Where is it then?” Xellie’s eyes widened as she considered the possibility of an entire city being transported. “I didn’t know he could do that.”

“You sure you know what you’re up against?” Mattos asked cautiously.

“That’s why I need to talk to my brother and Grau. I’m not so stupid as to go in with no information.”

“So uh....” Mattos shuffled a little nervously. “You believe in demon lords... Do you also believe in gods?”

“Sure why not?” Xellie shrugged. “We live in a world plagued with demons and their keepers, I don’t see why some lazy ass divine beings who can’t be bothered to intervene don’t exist too.”

“Demi-gods, giants, reapers, dragons, mermaids, Valkyries? How about those?”

“I guess?” Xellie mentally berated herself to not react too much. “I’ve never seen a tiger or a whale but that doesn’t mean they’re not real right?”

“Lunch?” Mattos asked, sitting himself down on a fallen tree. “I’m starving.”

“I’ll never say no to food,” Xellie replied, dumping her backpack down and digging around for the food Shana had packed. “So how about you? Do you believe in gods or such like?”

“I didn’t, but I do now.” Mattos laid his black sword across his lap. “When Alpinheim was invaded we fought back as best we could, but there was no time to send for help. Our forces were overrun quickly, Ashmeviti is a powerful beast, slaying people using magic without breaking a sweat. Everyone he killed seemed to come back to life under his control until we had to flee the city. We couldn’t leave though, there was a great barrier. People threw themselves against it in desperation, so hard that they were breaking bones. And then, weeks later, just when we thought it was all over....” he paused momentarily to take a swig of water as if he was contemplating what to say next. “The barrier shattered, and these women, with enormous wings, flew into the city. Everyone thought they were angels, come to save us. But that’s not what happened, they were Valkyries, and instead, they came at us, killing people trying to escape, women, children. A few of us made it out. When we tried to return, the city was gone.”

“Wow.” Xellie gulped. “Valkyries did that?”

“Supposedly they did it to prevent the spread of the demonic energy through the region, and, supposedly they will release the city when Ashmeviti is no longer a threat. I... I don’t even know if anyone is still alive, but I just know I must try.”

Xellie held her hand out to Mattos.

“Welcome to my super duper Demon Lord slaying team!”