Niko’s statement was enough to make Xellie’s blood run cold as she considered what this could mean.

“It’s me. I’m the source..of....unspeakable power... But...”

She fell backwards on the bed and stared up at the whitewashed ceiling.

“How could he use me to do that?”

“He’s a demon lord morals don’t come into it.” Niko sighed.

“No no not that I mean....”

“Oh, use your imagination.”

“Gross,” she said, scrunching her face and sitting up once more. “This means I really shouldn’t be hunting him down, I’d just be walking into... ugh no no. Nasty nasty. I guess I won’t fight him after all.”

“Hey.” Niko wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her in. “I think Raye would rather you fight him off than get taken by surprise. If what she said is true anyway, he’d be chasing you.”

“So I’m the reason why Hiraeth was attacked.” Xellie mused. “What if I go get killed so he can’t catch me?”

“What?! No!” Niko turned her to look her in the eyes. “There are so many things wrong with that kind of thinking! You’re gonna leave me to fight him all by myself and then not have anyone to tell about my glorious battles? And he preys on suicidal souls and that’s what this would be! Suicide! You can’t do that! Don’t think like that! Don’t feed him that despair.”

“I don’t wanna be a demon’s con... Uhm whatever the word is no no no!” She closed her eyes and shook her head rapidly as if she could force the imagery from her mind. “Niko, please! Don’t let this happen.”

“Raye has given me a mission.” Niko gazed down at his feet. “Just be assured I will do what I have to in order to protect people.”

Niko’s realism hit Xellie like a blow to the stomach. She knew what he was implying. That if she was corrupted or captured in any way, he would set out to kill her, to free her soul. There was a small amount of comfort in his bluntness. Niko wasn’t pretending this wasn’t something that could happen, but he clearly didn’t want to say it.

“Niko...” Xellie gulped and grabbed hold of her brother’s hand. The reality of Niko telling her that Ashmeviti was the demon she had encountered in the forest was starting to sink in. Her voice wavered and her eyes started to tear up a little, as she asked her brother; “Are you saying that If I don’t succeed and he captures my soul, you would free me?”

“Of course.” Niko lifted her chin to look her in the eye. “I couldn’t leave you in the possession of that monster forever.”

“If...if I can do this... I’ll be as strong as Raye and I could help so many people....” Xellie stuttered. “It would mean so much to everyone to have that kind of help...”

“Yes, it would,” Niko replied kindly, wiping a tear off her cheek. “Do you have my lucky scarf?”

She nodded with a sniff.

“Keep it,” Niko told her. “I’m relying on you to bring it back when this is over.”

“I don’t know what I’m so worried about really.” She said, wiping her face with the back of her hand. “I mean, it’s just a demon lord, no big deal.”

“So did Raye tell you to fight him or what happened anyway?” Niko asked.

“Oh... no it was... Hey! Niko do you remember aunt Val?”

“Yeah..?”

“She’s one of them too you know,” Xellie told her brother, proud at having made the connection.

“Huh. Well, I guess that makes sense. Seems like our mama led a very double life and we’re gonna find a lot of things...” Niko cut himself short as the door of the bedroom opened up and a grim-looking Grau beckoned them out into the living area. “I mean, I guess I’ll have to settle for second place and being a backup plan.”

“So I’ve been trying to work out where the centre of his power is,” Grau told them, unrolling a large, tattered parchment map over the floor. “I don’t have a damned clue. You could summon him but think about how badly that would backfire on the location he would become tied to when he kicks your ass.”

“She’ll be fine.” Niko waved at Grau dismissively. “Like you said earlier... I think the devil’s library is the best place to find information?”

“She can’t even sit still for five minutes, let alone read.” Grau snorted. “But yeah that’s probably the best place.”

“Are you staying with us tonight?” Niko asked cheerfully as Grau disappeared into his office, taking his tattered map with him.

“Yea,” Xellie replied. “And umm... I need new boots.”

“They look fine to me.”

That night Xellie settled down in the spare room to sleep, and Mattos took the sofa. Sleep didn’t come easy, as she couldn’t help but think back to the encounter in the forest. Laying in the dark staring at the ceiling, she tried to convince herself that she needed to go through with her plan to help people like Mattos. The more she thought about Mattos, the more images of women and children being slaughtered in Alpinheim filled her head.

Once again she stood in the streets of an ancient city, rivers of red ran through the cobbled road, sometimes dripping down from the walls.

A metallic smell hung in the air, reminiscent of the smell of a butcher’s shop.

So much blood. She had never seen so much blood in one place in her life. Bloody footprints left a trail between the towering buildings.

Looking down at herself, Xellie realized she was clad in lightweight armour, a breastplate and faulds, painted in a dark violet sheen, with a long mauve tabard lined with intricate gold embroidery.

In her right hand was the sword she had been given by Raye in its unremarkable powered-down form.

The patter of running footsteps made her look up from the sword, two young girls and their mother ran across the street and into one of the houses, slamming the door shut behind them.

“You must do it.” A stern, disembodied female voice rang out. “Follow them.”

Xellie couldn’t quite place her finger on why, but the voice was strangely compelling. Unable to resist, she tightened her grip on the sword and strode through the bloodied street, to push the door open and look inside.

“Please don’t...” The mother pleaded, gathering her kids around her. “Please!”

Xellie responded by kicking the door shut behind her and raising her sword. Seeing the threat, the mother threw herself in front of her children.

“NO!” the mother screamed as the sword pierced through her chest. She slumped to the floor, her children cowering by the wall behind her.

With the mother’s blood curling its way around the stone tiles, Xellie turned her attention to the two young children. They were no match for her sword.

She looked around, saw another target through the window and took off in their direction.

She could feel herself starting to smile, her hesitation had become exhilaration.

No.

No no! WHY?!

She awoke with a start, throwing the covers onto the floor.

“What the hell was that?” She muttered to herself.

Xellie had her share of nightmares and bad dreams before now, but this one had seemed so incredibly real, it was as if she had actually been there. Even though she hadn’t dreamed them, more events were coming into her mind. She recalled seeing families flee from her, toward the city centre.

Was this Alpinheim she was seeing? Why would the Valkyries have committed such a heinous act?

“Are you there Raye?” She asked timidly, looking up at the ceiling since she wasn’t really sure where Raye was, or where she would come from.

Raye materialized sitting on the edge of the bed, a glass of red wine in her hand. She swished the wine around thoughtfully, then gave a small sigh.

“Why am I remembering these horrible things?” Xellie demanded to know.

“Valkyries share a collective consciousness,” Raye explained. “Many memories are shared through our network. If you are seeing those things, this is a good sign that you will be able to join us.”

“Why though? Why was any of that necessary?” Xellie shuddered in disgust as she thought back to her dream. “They were not dangerous people...”

“The demons impregnated the women of the city,” Raye said matter-of-factly, despite how heavy the topic was. “The children were contaminated with Demon Aura. It was better to release their spirits than to let them transform into hideous creatures.”

A wave of nausea hit as Xellie imagined the scene of infants running from the Valkyries.

“Killing mothers in front of their children was necessary?”

“Objection noted.” Raye’s tone softened. “Eventually you will understand that matters of life and death are very different for our kind.”

“But...” Xellie gulped. “You ENJOY that kind of thing? Why do I feel so... Why do I want to be there?”

“It’s just the way we are. If doing what we are created for was unpleasant by nature, then existence would be unpleasant too.” Raye sipped delicately from her wine glass. “It is hard for a human mind to grasp, but try to not become too distressed. Life doesn’t end with death.”

“It does though. For us.”

“Yes, but not for the person who dies. I cannot tell you more than that, it’s simply not allowed.” Raye answered, her voice tinged with the slightest annoyance. “I would love to explain to you the intricacies of the soul, but it would destroy your human experience.”

“Oh? You actually care about our ‘human experience’?” Xellie was sceptical. “And before you were talking about how your directive is to not get involved.”

“Wouldn’t telling you about the afterlife be considered as getting involved?” Raye unclipped her hairpiece and lay it on the bed next to her. “Vella is sleeping and I wish you talk to you about something far more serious.”

“Oh?” Xellie sat cross-legged on the floor to listen. “More serious than death?”

“I assume Vella implanted the idea in your head. I listened to you talking to Niko, don’t try to trick him again. However, I must say I don’t particularly want to see you fight Ashmeviti.” Raye said sternly. “And yet, perhaps it is a good idea and would also liberate Alpinheim, there would be no doubt about you being worthy of our power.”

“I sense a but coming.”

“The problem is, he is a reaper. He reaps souls for his own purposes, much in the same way as we Valkyries take souls from the mortal world to beyond. Now, there are limitations for reapers, for a limited amount of time after death we can only see certain types of souls before everyone else can see them. In his case, he can only see despairing or angry souls. We on the other hand can only see those who fall honourably in battle.”

Raye closed her eyes as if she was carefully considering something. “Xellie... If that creature captures you or your soul he may try to use your diluted blood to create reapers capable of seeing the souls that he cannot.”

Raye continued speaking, her voice grim.

“I would be duty-bound to make sure that doesn’t happen. If he were to get the better of you, you must make sure you fight till the very end, keep a weapon in your hand, or else I may be forced to intervene.”

“You mean kill him?” Xellie asked in surprise. “Why not just do that then?”

“Not him. You.”

“Me?” Xellie straightened her back to sit more upright upon hearing this. “But why?”

“We cannot risk him making terrible hybrids with you. Either defeat him or die with a weapon in your hand as a fighting spirit. Because then - and only then, will you have proven yourself worthy to join us... You will become strong enough to slay him and his minions with ease.”

“Hmm...” Xellie thought about this for a few moments. Not entirely comfortable with her conclusion, she asked anyway. “I don’t understand why we don’t just skip to that part. It makes more sense than gambling on a fight I can’t win.”

“Absolutely not,” Raye replied. “A fighting spirit desires victory. Maybe that sounds asinine in your case, but that would mean accepting defeat, even if only temporarily, thus you wouldn’t be able to join us.”

“So what if I didn’t want to join you?”

Raye looked rather taken aback by the question, her reply came back coldly.

“You would be turning your back on the entire land, leaving them to be slain and enslaved by the demon races. If that’s an option for you, then so be it.”

Xellie fell silent, thinking back over her childhood. Towns ravaged by demons, families torn apart by losses from the wars to protect their towns, the kindness of people in places such as Hiraeth unscathed by the violence.

“I don’t know...” she muttered hesitantly. “I want to save people... But...”

“The alternative is more incidents such as that at Alpinheim. Except you’ll have no action than to stand by and watch. This world needs more power to prevent that.” Raye said curtly, disappearing abruptly.

This sure was a lot to think about. Did becoming a Valkyrie mean that Xellie would enjoy killing innocent people? She could barely stand the sight of blood, let alone deal with the kind of suffering that came with killing people. But Raye had seemed to react with anger when she had hinted at not wanting to go through with this.

Valkyries seemed to possess a tantalizing amount of power, which Raye was dangling before her, but, Raye seemed reluctant, if not unable, to use it for the good of humans.

Maybe Raye was not being completely honest with her.

Then there was the matter of Ashmeviti and his plans.

The idea of going into battle with a demon lord was scary enough, to the point that Xellie had mentally assigned herself a small chance of survival - because surely, taking a risk that big to cleanse the world of an overbearing evil was worth it?

The idea of having her soul captured bordered on terrifying. If Raye’s words were true, that meant that failing in her fight against the demon lord could put the world in more danger than it already was.

It was generally known that demons could capture souls and enslave them. With this in mind demon hunters often lived with the idea that they were going to hell if and when they died, and that another demon hunter would free them by killing their reincarnated demon self.

A few of them believed in Valkyries but this wasn’t a widely held belief.

Xellie hadn’t given much thought to what may lay beyond death before now. She had always held the opinion that reanimated demon hunters were just corpses with energy and no soul. Not that it had ever been a concern for her, she was young, competent and invincible.