Riloth the 19th the 298th

“Bild protect you boy! What did you do?” came Dagmar’s angry shout as she shook me awake.

I jumped out of bed and immediately noticed the difference. The sky outside my window, normally the pinkish-orange of the rising sun, was now black and red with the smoke of a blazing forest. Though it was hard to tell, the smoke having heavily obscured the sky, it was clearly earlier than usual.

“There was a demon!” I shouted as I grabbed my sword and threw on my boots before running to the door in my sleepwear.

“You don’t say!” came Dagmar’s shout as she followed.

I cast Mage Armor on each of us as we ran through the vacant halls. When we got to the gaming floor, we saw people flooding into the Parlor in panic. We waded our way through the crowd around the perimeter where my spells would not fade, and stepped outside the door. As soon as we did, I heard that voice once more, reverberating through the town.

“Come out, come out, little sorcerer. I just want to talk. Mostly. It gets trying hearing the same old pleas for mercy. No matter the order I pull off their limbs or flay their skin, they always say the same thing.”

We couldn’t see the demon and ran through the streets to Levar’s. I broke the window with my sword and leapt over it, scattering Levar’s carefully organized reagents all over. I grabbed the potions and felt like myself once more; only the clear mind let the terror I felt shine through more vividly.

Back outside Levar's, we had a clear view of the eastern gate. Refugees charged through by the thousands, trampling each other in their panic.

"What have we here?" the terrible voice asked, still projecting his voice. "Another pawn of the gods. Oh, not a pawn. Maybe a knight, possibly a bishop."

"Daulf!" I shouted, and took off back to the Parlor, using Wind Run to aid my flight and leaving Dagmar to catch up.

Trish stood outside the Parlor, fully dressed in her leather armor, but with no weapons visible.

"Trish!" I shouted as I reached her, dismissing my spell. "Where's Daulf?"

She looked me over as if she didn't recognize me. I could tell she knew something was different, but she put her questions aside.

“He went towards the northern gate to face that monster.”

“Alright, stay here. I need to help him.” I turned to run, but she stopped me.

“What can you do? Why must you help?” she asked, earnestly, almost begging. “He can handle himself. Don’t involve yourself.”

“I have to,” I answered. “This is my fault.”

“Burning flooding balls of Faust’s bastards!” she shouted into the air in frustration.

She drew her long knives from her pockets—magic pockets, I now suspected—and flinched slightly when she brandished them.

“I guess we are going,” she said solemnly.

I wanted to argue, but feared Daulf had little time. Through our brief chat, I heard the one-sided taunts of the demon, and could now see it flying over the wall.

I cast Mage Armor on a visibly confused Trish, and we ran towards the gate.

I sent a Message to Dagmar, “Heading to the northern gate.”

The streets were too crowded to navigate by now, and Trish dragged me to the side of the crowd.

“Can you run on the roofs?”

I looked up at the single-story building and smiled.

“I think I can manage.”

We went into an alley, and Trish immediately began to scale the wall, finding handholds I couldn’t even see.

“I’ll throw down a—” she started, but stopped when she saw me land next to her with a magically aided leap.

“Never mind.”

We ran across the rooftops, leaping each alley and gap as we advanced towards the northern gate. The buildings became taller as we neared the wall, but with my magic and Trish’s elven agility, we made it across the city in record time.

Outside the gate, Daulf stood out in the remnants of the refugee camp. Before him flew the demon, even now still taunting him as the people behind him fled demons for the second time in as many months.

“Have no fear, knight. I have no desire to torture the chattel. I have a particular quarry in mind.”

We got to the last building, which abutted the city wall.

“Jump!” I told Trish as I continued straight for it.

Without hesitation, she leapt, and I cast Slow Fall to bring us down safely.

“Ah! There he is now!” came the demon’s voice with a mockery of joy.

“Theral! What are you doing here? Go back inside the walls!” Daulf shouted, warning me away.

He held his sword and shield, but wore only his sleeping linens and boots. We ran to him, and the demon landed, mocking us further as he casually approached on foot.

“Oh good, you know each other! That will make the torture much more entertaining!”

I reached Daulf while the demon was still a few dozen yards away, and quickly cast a Mage Armor on his unprotected body.

“Theral! Go!” he insisted while examining the magic protecting his arms with his glowing blue eyes.

I didn’t answer and Conjured my sword to hand instead, which elicited a whistle of approval from Trish.

“If this is how you act after a night of drinking, we need to do that more often.” she commented from behind. “I bet it was the dwarven ale.”

The demon walked towards us, casually twirling the coil of his flaming whip as he approached.

Daulf charged the demon, his sword taking on the brilliant white glow I'd seen when he slew the undead dragon. Trish and I followed behind, though with less zeal.

The demon lashed out at Daulf with his flaming whip. The armorless knight intercepted the blow, but lost the shield in the process, fire whip ripped it from his arm and flicked it away. Undaunted, Daulf ran on. When he was within the demon's reach, I sent a bolt of Lightning aimed at its whip hand, hoping to stun it.

The lightning illuminated Daulf briefly on a blue-white light as it streaked past, hitting the demon in its shoulder. The energy caused the demon to fumble briefly, as he brought both his hands together on his whip and the delay allowed for Daulf to get inside its guard and land a two-handed swing into its leg.

The glowing weapon dug deep into the thigh of the behemoth, but not deep enough to end the fight, as part of me hoped. The demon jumped back at the strike, freeing the blade as he did so. The wound was deep, but the leg could still support him. He completed bringing his hands together as he jumped, and the whip transformed into a blade of pure fire.

Trish moved wide around the demon, trying to put him between Daulf and herself. As she ran, she threw knife after knife into the disgusting hide. The blades struck true, but seemed to bounce off with no apparent effect.

The Lightning had done something, but I felt the need to try out all my options. Immediately after my first spell, I dropped my sword to the ground and brought my hands together in a circle to cast Mind Spike at the demon. For the first time, the spell seemed to have no effect,

The demon swung his sword overhead at Daulf, unhindered by my spell. The Seeker brought his sword up to block, the glowing weapon a match in strength for the conjured sword of flame. Despite his block, the force of the strike drove him to his knees. The demon brought up his blade for another attack, and this time Daulf succeeded in deflecting the blade to the side and into the dirt. Before Daulf could regain his feet, the demon used its impossible speed to swing at him again.

Before the blade could strike, I mustered the strongest Gust I could muster in short order and brought it to bear on the demon's chest. His wings, draped over his shoulders like a cape, flew wide with the sudden blast of air, and he was thrown back a dozen yards before he collected himself enough to flap his massive wings, sending him up and breaking him free of my spell.

Now he soared above and once more began to taunt.

"I'll admit this is presenting more of a challenge than I—" I didn't let him finish, and recast the overpowered Gust above him, driving him into the ground.

The Gust exhausted the last of my Will, and I downed the spare potion of clarity that I'd had the foresight to shove in my pocket as I ransacked Levar's shop.

The demon fell, faster than a stone, accelerated into the hard-packed dirt from my spell. He landed with a thump that reverberated through the ground and before he could stand, Trish and Daulf were upon him. They stood on opposite sides of the supine monster, Daulf at the head and Trish at its hooves.

Daulf jabbed at the head while Trish stabbed at its legs. The demon flexed its bat wings, rolling him to the side with sudden speed and causing both attacks to miss. He turned in his roll, and recovered to his knees, when another of my bolts of Lightnings struck him in the chest.

My companions charged at him once more, and I followed to keep within range. When Daulf caught up, they engaged in a rapid back and forth of strikes, parries, and blocks. Occasionally an attack would break through Daulf's guard, only to be deflected by my armor spell. Each impact of blade on blade seemed to increase the intensity of their respective light. Trish stood behind the demon, jumping in and out to strike at its exposed back. After the first few stabs, she ceased striking with her offhand knife, holding it instead in a defensive guard.

Despite their prowess, the searing heat of the monster was sapping their strength. Sweat covered them both, and Daulf's skin was beginning to blister wherever the sword got closer to him.

The demon ignored Trish for the most part, only batting at her occasionally with his wings. I continued to pepper him with my Lightning, timing the strikes to buy Daulf an advantage on his attacks or blocks.

If either of my friends were harming the monster, I couldn't tell.

Where is Dagmar? I wondered though I wasn't sure what she could do if she were here.

The contest between Daulf and the demon went on for less than a minute, but it felt like hours had passed, when suddenly the demon changed tactics. He leapt back from Daulf, trampling Trish to the ground in the process. With yards now between Daulf and him, he threw his sword wide in preparation for an attack on Trish.

Without considering my actions, I Blinked between the two, and extended my hand out to the sword, casting Shield. The barrier appeared between me and the flaming sword stopping it inches before my palm. The heat from his body and sword combined was nearly unbearable and even through my Shield my hand started to burn..

Shield still up, I lunged in at the demon striking his leg with my sword, right next to Daulf's first cut. Where my sword met flesh, the burnt red took on a frosted white appearance as a small circle of the demon's flesh froze.

"Enough of this!" he snarled, as he brought his right arm around in a hook.

Too late I tried to bring my hand around to block. My Shield passed through his arm and his fist took me in the chest, sending me flying back a dozen feet. Without my Mage Armor, the blow would have killed me, but instead, I broke my leg and most of my ribs.

I lay watching helplessly as the Demon approached Trish. Daulf charged to intercept, but the sword warped back into a whip and pulled the Seeker’s legs out from under him.

Trish rose in the air, trapped in the burning grasp of the demon. He lifted her to his bull face, inspecting her as she screamed in pain from the heat of his body.

He looked from her to me and said, “You care for these two I see. Excellent.”

Then, he began to squeeze, crushing Trish in his grasp.

Part of me screamed in protest, but that was more instinctual than thought, for my mind had gone to the Font of Air. I drew as much power as I could, and forced it to take the shape of a Gust. The spell manifested before the demon, blowing him back with the force of a hurricane, but he was prepared and held his wings tight. His grip on Trish slacked as he focused on maintaining his footing, and I went now to the Font of Space to get close enough to save her.

I began to cut the shape of Blink into the Font, focusing on Trish as the target of desire. But a rare yet familiar sensation occurred. My instincts guided my Will and I instead formed something new, something I knew would affect Trish and myself, though I knew not how. Not sure what would happen, but trusting in my sorcery, I let the power of the spell run through me and felt the familiar sensation of being teleported.

I was no longer laying on the ground but was instead caught in the demon’s grasp, his flesh burning my own, while my spell howled around us. Through the corner of my eye, I saw that Trish and Daulf were far off, and I didn’t hesitate a moment before drawing uncontrolled power from the Font of Space.

The demon’s eyes grew wide as he recognized what I was about to do, but it was too late. He let go of me, but the force of my wind blew me into him. The magic tore my body apart and—I hoped—the demon.