As the sky lightened, she gave up trying to sleep and slipped out of bed, tiptoeing to Niko’s room, where he lay sprawled inelegantly half under the covers, half draped off the bed.

“Niko!” she whispered, poking him in the ribs.

“As usual,” Grau muttered, flipping over. “Go outside.”

Niko sat up and rubbed his eyes.

“I knew you’d do this.” He said, putting on his slippers and padding quietly through the house, sitting at the patio table facing the sunrise. “What’s up? Raye bother you?”

“No... Last time we spoke, I think I bothered her.” Xellie said hesitantly. “Niko how much do you talk to her?”

“Not much,” Niko answered. “She’s involved with the church or something and something. They monitor demon invasions and potential new portals from the demon realm... Then she tells us where to go... I go there and kill the demons, deal with the summoner, and Grau seals up the portals and we get paid by the church. I never see her outside of that.”

“Do you trust her?” Xellie kicked her feet against the wall.

“Yes....” Niko stared up at the sky thoughtfully. “She makes time for us so we can make a difference and slow down invasions, even though she seems so busy. Her bosses are hard on her. She always talks about how she has to attend to her duties and stuff.”

“I don’t know about joining her.” Xellie cast her eyes downwards. “She tempts me with her powers, but I have this feeling. I can’t explain it very well, that she’s not telling me everything. Like would I have to answer to her bosses?”

“As I understand it... Only after you die. I think you get all the power and stuff before you die and keep human free will until then. At least, that’s what she seems to have hinted at.” Niko sighed. “You know, I’m kind of jealous, really. I would give anything to have access to that kind of power, but it’s only you she seems to want.”

“Yeah but, it’s only you that she trusted with this knowledge,” Xellie answered in a bitter tone.

“Hey now.” Niko held his hands up peacefully. “This hasn’t been some great conspiracy against you. She has been protecting you because nobody knew if you would really inherit Raye’s powers.”

“Well, it seems like I have. I hear things, I see things.”

“Oh well. You need to make the most of your gifts then. Don’t let that old goat capture you.” Niko said with a smile. “Besides, I think you’d make a great Valkyrie.”

“You’re kidding right?” She giggled back. “Look, I can’t even decide what to eat, let alone decide someone’s destiny.”

“You’ll learn!”

The two siblings sat silently, watching the sun rising. Xellie found herself happy to be in the presence of her brother.

“Soo....” Niko broke the silence as he climbed off the wall. “When are you heading to Anshara?”

“I’ll leave after breakfast, I guess,” Xellie answered with a casual shrug.

“Smack Ash for me.”

“Will do. Although that will cost you...”

“Cheeky...” Niko playfully swiped at his sister.

Breakfast was a messy, free-for-all affair, with bread and fruit spread over the table. Grau punctuated his eating with dirty looks toward Niko, who seemed oblivious to the fact. After eating, Niko helped Xellie pack her rucksack with food and gave her enough money to “get by”.

“Hold up!” Grau called, as Xellie pushed the door open. “I have something you’ll find helpful.”

Grau handed her a copy of a map he had drawn, the ink still wet and smudged in one corner.

“What is...?” Xellie turned the map upside down to check what she was seeing.

“That,” Grau replied indignantly, putting it the correct way up in her hands. “Is the easiest and fastest way to cross the Demon Desert.”

“But... okay.” She exhaled upwards through her bangs. “Thanks for finally letting me know this exists.”

“Don’t let anyone get a hold of that, anyway. Or err... let anyone know it exists. Take the Mattos guy with you but you really need to see this place.”

Grau glanced over at Niko, then took the map and shoved it in Xellie’s waistband. In a low whisper, he told her, “Even Niko doesn’t know everything.”

Tilting her head quizzically, Xellie hoped to glean more information from Grau, who had nothing more to say other than to usher her out of the door.

“Safe trip!” Grau called as Niko jostled in the doorway for space to wave.

As she looked back from the stone bridge crossing the canal, back toward her brother, Niko’s cheerful face sent a chill through her. At this moment, she could be saying goodbye to him for the last time. That was a fact that she was becoming more and more convinced of by the second.

The journey to Anshara involved a river ferry from below the foothills of Nordausa, to the outskirts of Jota, the capital city of the restricted zone nation of Taode. From there, they would follow a well-travelled path through woodland and scrub, until the greenery gave way to sand. A journey that would take a day between each city, until arriving at Mozakkan, a small town that comprised little more than an inn, a small market selling dried and salted meats, and a tailor that sold various clothing for dealing with the desert weather. It was obvious that people here lived off the profits they made from people travelling to Anshara, a much bigger city.

Mattos was well-travelled in the northwest area, between Nordausa, Jota and the valley where his home city, Alpinheim had once stood. He had, however, never travelled south.

Conversely, Xellie had lived her childhood in Anshara and shared gushing opinions of how beautiful the desert city was. Although she had only visited sparingly in the last few years.

“Tell me,” Mattos asked over an early supper under a parasol sheltering from the desert sun in Mozakkan. “If you love Anshara so much, why did you not go back?”

“Travelling the actual desert is a pain.” Xellie pointed out in the distance, toward the scrub wavering in the hot air. “Even the sand is possessed. You travel during the day, it's hot, and you tire. You travel at night, you deal with monsters. I guess so normally you take a barrier expert to create rest havens, sleep at night and just cope with the heat.”

“You’d only have to travel it once, to stay there though?”

“Well...” Xellie closed her eyes and sipped her water, savouring it under the sun beating down on her. “The academy is in Jota, but, we didn’t know who killed papa. So Niko and I claimed new identities to hide our family ties and, uh, he enrolled me as a boy in the academy. We never knew if they would come back for us if we went back and... Niko wouldn’t allow it until we were both strong enough to fight whoever tried to destroy our family.”

“Yeesh. Tough life, huh? You gonna do that whole thing where you avenge your father’s death if you find out who did it?”

“I’d have to become a detective.” Xellie allowed herself a small laugh, despite the heavy topic. “Don’t feel awkward... it was a long time ago, and demons infiltrate Ansharan families constantly to kill the defenders.”

“I’ve heard stories. Well, I’m sorry that happened to your family.”

“They’re gonna regret what they created.”

“I’d put money on that.” Mattos sipped from his soup bowl. “So you enrolled as a male in the Demon Hunter Academy? Did you get found out?”

Xellie laughed at the question and nodded her head gleefully.

“Yeah... It became impossible to hide as a teenage girl. And we had open locker rooms for changing, so... One day this troll of a boy, Talynn, he was making fun of me for being a bit umm dumpy shaped in the chest. I knocked him clean out on the floor!” Xellie punctuated her story with a punch into the air. “Instead of suspending me, it turns out our mentor for that lesson was Vanis and he figured me out.”

“Haha... you didn’t get kicked out for enrolling in a false name or anything?”

“No, he was mindful of Niko’s situation and how I could be a target. But since I was under the protection of the academy and the church attached to it, he said it was safe to come clean. And I guess, you know, I couldn’t hide that from a bunch of teenage boys forever.”

“You know that makes me think, why are there so few women in demon hunting, anyway?”

“Body management. They made me take extra classes, then Vanis tutored me on the side.” Xellie stood up and slammed her hands on the table. “And no matter what anyone thought about that guy, he was an asshole.”

“He has produced some of the finest demon hunters out there, though.” Mattos pointed out.

“Eh.” Xellie sat back down and rolled her eyes. “I think he liked to torture his students. He made me study gymnastic moves, over and over and over. Forcing me to make the same jump over and over onto a tiny target. He did this thing he called mental fortitude training. To uh.... learn to overcome miasma by staying focused and logical in times of distress. He’d wake me in the middle of the night to stand in a puddle of ice water, in the snow and complete verbal logic tasks or memorise long things. And expect a bright and awake student for regular class the next day... Days and weeks without sleep, or even proper meals. He made me eat poison!”

“So that’s his secret? Being a sadist?” Mattos asked.

“I don’t think I even saw the worst of it. Someone killed him before I could reach the third level of his training.” Xellie shook her head and sighed.

“Angry ex-student?” Mattos suggested.

“Probably!” Xellie laughed, scooting the remains of her fish dinner around the plate with her fork.

“You gonna eat that?” Mattos pointed at the fish debris that had been shuffled around the plate countless times by now.

“No, it’s mine!” Xellie exclaimed defensively, scooping up the remains of the fish and swallowing it quickly. Despite this nonchalant appearance, Xellie was mentally planning to get away from Mattos so that she could talk to Raye. She couldn’t think of a good excuse, no matter how hard she tried. “I’m going for a walk,” she eventually announced, getting up from the table and walking away from the inn, throwing a glance over her shoulder on the way.

“Should I...?” Mattos asked, standing up.

“No, no.” Xellie waved him back. “I just need to think... I guess the conversation just brought some stuff up...”

“Understandable,” Mattos said with a nod. “I’ll be here.”

Mattos gave a bemused wave to Xellie as she walked down the steps and into the streets of the desert town. She wandered down the dusty lanes between the houses until she reached the town walls. Xellie kicked a rock against the wall, then noticed a ladder leaning against it. Deciding that sitting on top of the wall would make for a nice vantage point to watch the sunset, she nimbly climbed up the ladder and planted herself on the wall, looking over the small town. Toward the west, there were a few ruined villas, probably the remains of a demonic incursion into the town.

Among the dilapidated villas, Xellie noticed what looked like movement between them. Although the desert towns were notorious for lawlessness on the streets, she couldn’t help but feel the urge to go find out what was going on.

“I’m such an idiot.” She murmured under her breath as she slid down the ladder and walked toward the villas. “...or not.” She added as a shadow crossed the path in front of her.

Drawing her sword, but not activating the energy blade, Xellie cautiously made her way down the street, her back pressed against the villa walls when she could. The fading light making deep shadows between the buildings.

The dull thud of running footsteps against the sandy ground sounded through the air. Xellie made her way to the end of the building and peeked around the corner.

A young-looking girl, her long green hair in bunches, stood holding a small dagger out before her. She faced a shadowy and cloaked floating figure wielding a scythe.

Recognizing the demon as a wraith, Xellie ran to the girl and pushed her aside as the wraith took a swing with its weapon. The faceless demon stopped short of swiping at them as it seemed to look at Xellie, as best it could with no face.

The wraith floated backwards away from them as if it was unsure what to do.

“Get out of here. Shoo!” Xellie yelled at the wraith, raising her hands as if she was pretending to be a bear or some monster. Obligingly and much to Xellie’s surprise, the wraith vanished.

“Umm... what just happened?” The girl asked, sheathing her dagger at her waist. “Really? Shoo?”

“Shouldn’t I be asking you what happened?” Xellie retorted, sliding her sword home. “I just saved you.”

“Well...” The girl poked at the ground with the toe of her boot. “... I guess I kinda made them angry.... But that doesn’t explain how you did that.”

Xellie rolled her eyes, then looked down at the girl, who had an unstrung wooden bow slung across her back. The girl wore an elaborately embroidered robe-like dress that reached above her knees. It was unlike anything Xellie had seen before.

“I’m not familiar with your accent,” Xellie pointed out changing the subject. “You’re not from around here, are you?”

“I’m from the eastern continent,” the girl replied.

“Wow really? What brings you to our demon-infested lands?” Xellie asked, genuinely curious about this strange girl’s presence. It was rare to encounter people from the east this far away from their homeland.

“Welllll.......” The girl seemed hesitant. “I’ll tell you if you can explain how you scared the wraith away.”

“Fine.” Xellie sighed audibly. “I have a reputation among the demons.” She lied. In actual fact, she hadn’t expected the wraith to disappear in the manner that it had, but they did not disappoint Xellie with the result.

“So.” The girl looked around timidly. “You probably know that my people are spiritualists. We can talk to the dead and such, right?”

Xellie nodded.

“Yeah, everyone knows that.”

“Well, we’ve barely been able to contact anyone for a while now... and when we manage to, they speak of great anguish and pain...Then they came, demanding we hand over every girl in the village...” The girl explained. “Anyway, I came out here to learn more and maybe see if there’s some way to help.”

“How’s that going for you?” Xellie wondered what this girl expected to be able to do. Confront demons with only that small knife she was carrying?

“Not so good,” The girl looked down as if she was embarrassed. “There’s this demon who has been pursuing me. He wanted me to make a contract with him and I said no. Since then I’ve been running away. But umm... I know this a lot to ask... can you help me?”

“ What kind of help?” Xellie asked warily.

“The contract demon said he would kill me if I don’t agree to his terms.”

Xellie considered this for a minute or so. This girl’s people were known to be quite wealthy and there could be a reward for helping her. It was the kind of task that Niko and Grau would often take up.

“Okay,” Xellie said. “You best stay with me until we come face to face with this contract seeker of yours. My name is Xellie by the way.”

“Aryina. But everyone calls me Ary.”

“You’re lucky, Ary.” Xellie laughed to herself. “My family happen to be demon hunters. I’m kind of doing a job at the moment, but I can’t leave you to get killed, either. Come with me.”

“Thank you!” Ary exclaimed. “I promise I won’t get in your way or anything.”

“You better not,” Xellie said jokingly as she turned to walk down the street back toward the inn. Stood in their way, hard to make out in the fading light, stood a bulky, tall figure in silver armour holding a thick, tapered, metal lance.

“Eeehhhh.....” Xellie shook her head as she drew her sword once more. “You’re here for trouble?” She asked the figure sternly holding her hand out to keep Ary back.

“Is that your new pet?” The figure asked, his voice deep, hollow and almost metallic sounding.

“Pet? Oh, you mean her.” Xellie narrowed her eyes as she spoke to the demon. “Why are you so concerned?”

“Hand over the girl!” The demon commanded.

“Now why would I do a crazy thing like that?” Xellie pointed her sword toward the silver armoured demon.

“Oh, it’s you... Now I’m spoilt for choice.” Rung out the demon’s hollow, metallic voice.

“Just try it!” Xellie yelled, fumbling with her sword to twist the hilt whilst grabbing hold of Ary’s hand. Finally, she twisted it, the sword sparking into life, crackling angrily in the night air. “Don’t let go whatever you do,” she told Ary.

“A... plaything?” The demon said with a chuckle, raising his lance. “Alright then.”

The demon launched himself at a terrifying speed toward the girls. Xellie held her sword out before her and hoped for the best, blocking and parrying him, but only barely. He vanished, reappearing from the air above and to her right. Xellie pulled her sword upward, blocking his attack as he disappeared once more. Instinctively, she turned to the left. Just as she’d thought, he appeared above her, dropping from the left.

The demon vanished one more time. Would he be so predictable as to come from the right again? Or behind her? Not sure what to do, Xellie swung herself around, slashing into the air as she turned to face the opposite way from where she started.

It paid off. The armoured demon appeared, thrown back by the energy from the sword.

Still standing, the demon brushed his chest off, looking down at the small gash in his armour.

“Baby Valkyrie gets a magic sword and thinks she knows how to fight,” He stopped and laughed at his own statement.

“Valkyrie?!” Ary exclaimed, pulling her hand away from Xellie’s.” For real?!”

“Do you want my help or not?” Xellie asked Ary irately, keeping one eye on the demon. “Because I could just as well leave you here to fight him on your own.”

“Okay, but I have questions.” Ary ran behind Xellie and pushed her toward the demon. Leaning out so she could look the demon in his red eyes, she yelled toward him. “You don’t know what you’re messing with!”

“Uh, I think he does...” Xellie protested, gripping her sword with her free hand and steadying herself.

“He really doesn’t,” Ary said, placing one hand against Xellie’s back and closing her eyes.

If the demon had a face, his expression would have been one of puzzlement.

Wondering what Ary was doing, Xellie split her attention between Ary behind her and the demon before her. A few seconds passed, and then a ripping sound filled the air as ghostly white swan-like wings unfurled from Xellie’s back.

“Ary, what did you do?!” Xellie exclaimed, having only heard the noise and not aware of the wings she had just sprouted. Xellie’s energy blade glowed brighter, almost blindingly white in the centre.

“Go go!” Ary gave Xellie a shove toward the demon.

“Okay okay!” Xellie launched herself toward the demon, who took a step back and raised his lance. The demon sidestepped as Xellie took a swipe with her sword, her timing off because she was moving so much faster than she was used to. She spun on her heel and slashed sideways with the energy blade. The demon attempted to parry it with his lance, which was simply sliced in half and fell to the ground with a clatter.

“This isn’t over,” the demon announced as he vanished in a puff of black smoke.

“It never is,” Xellie deactivated her sword and leaned forward, panting to get her breath back. “That guy was quite scary.”

“He’s the contract demon,” Ary told Xellie.

“I see...” Xellie trailed off as she could hear the loud whispering from before surrounding their location. She listened intently for a few moments, but wasn’t able to make out any words. “Do you hear that?”

Ary shook her head.

“What ... is ... that?” Xellie looked around, seeing nothing that seemed to be the source of the whispering sound. Confused, she turned to Ary. “Did you do something to me?”

Ary nodded, closed her eyes and held her hand out, palm facing toward Xellie. As Ary did so, she muttered incomprehensibly under her breath. Xellie’s light wings appeared to turn into dust and fell to the floor, not a trace of them left.

“For a Valkyrie, you don’t seem very in touch with your spiritual side,” Ary said, sounding puzzled. “But umm, are you here to take me?”

“Take you?” Xellie felt her face flush red as she thought about what this could mean.

“Across the rainbow bridge.”

“Oh. Well, I’m not really uh... I’m like uh... I’m human,” Xellie stuttered. “I don’t do that stuff.”

“But he said....”

“Demons will say anything to cause strife.” Xellie cut in. “Anyway, uh, Ary, listen... I don’t mind protecting you - but this Valkyrie stuff? We can’t talk about it. It’s not a smart thing to do.”

Ary shrugged.

“Then if you’re not a Valkyrie of some sort, how was I able to bring your wings out from deep within your spirit?” she pressed. “I’ve never seen that in a human.”

“Uhh...” Xellie rubbed the back of her neck with one hand as she tried to figure out how truthful she should be with this girl. It seemed that Ary’s ability to talk to and see spirits applied not only to the dead, but also to the living. And with that, Ary had seen Xellie’s true self. “Well... my mother is a Valkyrie,” Xellie blurted out, regretting it instantly.

“Ooohhh... That’s so cool!” Ary replied excitedly. “So you’re learning how to use your powers and stuff? Or are you going to change from a human into a Valkyrie at some point? How powerful are you, anyway? Are you allowed to use Valkyrie powers?”

“I mostly don’t know,” Xellie answered with an awkward laugh. “I’m kinda figuring it all out by myself now.”

“I can help you!” Ary skipped in front of Xellie and placed a hand on Xellie’s shoulder. “I do this stuff all the time, helping people learn to do what they desire, putting them in contact with spirits that can help them grow stronger.”

“I think that would be awesome,” Xellie told Ary, already contemplating whether Raye would tell her more about this strange girl. “By the way, like I said, please don’t tell anyone about the Valkyrie thing or do that wing thing again.”

“I promise! By the way, do you live here?”

“Here? I don’t live anywhere, really.” Xellie mused. “Myself and someone I’m working with are heading to Anshara.”

“You don’t live anywhere?” Ary asked as they set off down the street toward the inn. “How does that work? Where are you from?”

“I guess technically... “Xellie paused and thought about it. “Technically... I was born in Anshara, but I grew up moving between Nordausa and Jota.”

“Well, I don’t know those places very well...I know Anshara is a great demon-fighting city.”

“Ah yeah. For some reason, the demons love trying to invade Anshara, so the people there are pretty specialized in fighting demons.” Xellie explained. “So there’s a lot of warrior-type men. People travel to other cities to study magic in peace so that they can come back and help defend their families.”

“Is that why you travel?” Ary pressed, annoyingly full of questions.

“My parents died when I was just a kid. Niko, my brother, had been training outside of the city - but then he had to look after me. I stayed at his mentor’s place for a bit, and then he met his partner and they went to train in other places. I couldn’t go with them all the time so I was dumped in a church orphanage.”

“Oh. Did you like it... or....?”

“I ran away a lot,” Xellie laughed and pointed to the inn. “Anyway, this is where we’re staying tonight.”

“Fancy place,” Ary said, looking up at the three-storied building with balconies and a large patio area, dotted with parasoled tables.

Xellie looked around to see Mattos still seated outside, this time with ale. She beckoned to Ary to follow as she weaved between the tables to join them.

“Welcome back!” Mattos said cheerily, holding his tankard up to Xellie in greeting. “Who’s this?”

“This is Ary.” Xellie pointed at Ary, then at Mattos. “Ary meet Mattos.”

Ary held her hand up and gave a small wave.

“Ary is in a little bit of trouble with demons and has no way to protect herself,” Xellie explained to Mattos, “So I said she can come with us until we can deal with the demon bothering her.”

“Fair enough,” Mattos replied. “Welcome on board.”