That’s all it takes. Isola reaches out and presses that red glow against the shadows which make up its head. Unlike the silence that was so noticeable when I killed the previous one, Isola’s hand draws forth an unholy shriek from deep inside it.
It squirms and tries to claw at her with its forelegs, but she dodges out of the way without ever removing her hand from its face. It shrinks at a frightening rate until all that’s left is the core that falls to the ground. She takes one step forward and smashes it.
Then she’s running toward Jorren with me on her heels. The demon has let him go, and he’s cradling the wounded arm several strides away from the battle between Rurik and the demon. Elara has dismounted and is circling the creature. Her sword flashes out at its flanks, and puffs of darkness fill the air while Rurik holds its attention from the front.
Rurik nods to her, a signal for her to attack in earnest. Elara jumps onto the demon’s back just as I did. She stabs it through the shoulder, and it screams and rolls over to dislodge Elara. She slides out from under the creature, and Rurik cuts it across the face with his blade. Electricity courses through it, lighting up the area as it bounces around inside the darkness that the creature is made of.
Then the demon disappears like mist burned away by the sun, leaving only the husk of its core behind. It sizzles with strands of darkness. Only after the danger is over do I realize we’re missing someone.
I look behind us, the Falcon urging me to continue to act, and instead of Darian, there’s an entire group of seven competitors standing in the clearing, weapons brandished.
I don’t have time to get a good glimpse of them, though, because a bear the size of a cottage runs into the group, knocking all of them down at once. It stomps on a Rider’s head and swats a Mage who’s trying to stand up, separating her head from her shoulders. It takes another step as a Burning One turns around, her eyes turning bright red, and it crushes her chest. Then, as the rest of the team get their footing and prepare to defend themselves, it runs toward us, and we take off in a sprint. There is no way we’re fighting another team and that monstrosity.
A normal human can’t outrun a bear, but none of us are normal humans. With the Bear and Falcon coursing through me, I’m as fast or faster than any of the Godforged save Elara. She’s mounted on her pegasus and outpaces the rest of us, but not by much.
When I turn around to see if the enormous bear has stopped running, all I see is Darian, completely naked, with a wide grin on his face.He was the bear.His House of Steel abilities to shapeshift just killed at least three of the members of that team. Thinking faster than the rest of us, he knew others would come because of Jorren’s screams. Rather than help Jorren, he knew to prepare for the truly dangerous enemies.
Gods, he really did always see things the rest of us missed. It’s a good thing he was the person who decided to help me become Nyxthos’s champion. “We can slow down,” I call out to the rest of our team.
They turn around, see Darian, and all begin laughing. Even Isola, with her constantly serious expression, is smiling. “I wondered where you were,” she says. “But I didn’t think a simple demon could drag the great Darian Emlyn away from us without so much as a sound.”
“I knew you five could handle three demons, but this forest is deathly quiet, and a scream carries for miles. The snarls from the demons would be sure to bring them straight to us. The best thing I could do was watch our backs.”
He looks down at himself and says, “I guess I didn’t think it through well enough, though. Now I’m going to be cold tonight. Which one of you ladies wants to cuddle for warmth?”
“I brought a blanket we can share,” Elara says with a sly smile, and there’s no missing her approving glance between his legs.
Darian’s smile only grows at the response and glance, but it’s Jorren who chimes in next. “Why were there demons in the forest?” he asks.
All of us turn toward him, and it hits me. Those weren’t any Mage’s demons. Otherwise, they’d have fought alongside their pets. “Could Nyxthos have put them here?” I ask.
“That’s the most likely possibility,” Isola responds, a thoughtful expression wiping away her laughter. “Being in the tower tonight would put a target on your back. The smartest thing to do wasobviously to wait for the other teams to have their numbers reduced while maintaining your own. I doubt all of us waiting around in the forest is what Nyxthos or the champions want to see. I doubt those demons are going to be the last of them.”
A series of screams rings out from the forest north of us. They’re far away, but it lends Isola’s thought credit. Nyxthos wouldn’t just send demons after us. He’d have them roaming all through the woods.
“So we have to protect ourselves from demons while we wait,” Elara says. “Not that big of a deal. It’s not like any of us haven’t fought our fair share of demons.”
I shake my head slowly. “No, that’s not what it means at all. Nyxthos is going to push us to take the tower because everywhere else will be unsafe. These demons are just the start, and how many demons do you feel we could easily deal with? Five? Ten? Fifty? What if he sends other things at us? What if he makes a demon the size of a dragon?”
That shuts everyone up. “So, do we need to take the tower?” Rurik asks. “The thought of a dragon-sized demon isn’t something I want to deal with.”
Darian shakes his head. “No, we can’t win if we take the tower. Every other group will come to the same conclusion soon. Someone else, someone less able to adapt, will do it. Then they’ll be stuck in a corner without a way out, and Serica’s group will decimate them. We can’t get involved with any of that. We already have our plan for how to win the trial. Now we just need to survive for three days.”
I smile. “Then we need to think like humans. How have humans protected themselves when the things in the woods are bigger and meaner than they are since the dawn of time?”
The entire group waits for me to answer. What would a normal human do? “We need to build a shelter that anything larger than us won’t be able to get through and anything smaller than us will have to face us one at a time.”
The looks I’m getting from the group make me want to laugh. “We need to make a cave for ourselves.”
Interlude 8
Inacastleoncehome to men and women, in a land once bright with sunlight, in a world that was once unified in the simple cycle of life and death, a snake crossed the duskthorn flooring. Its emerald scales slid effortlessly where boots tread daily. The flick of its tongue told it where to find its prey, the scent unique in a way that so few are.
But the serpent was not alone in its hunt. A small bird, the size of a woman’s fist, found an open window while carried on winds no others could feel. Its sapphire feathers gleamed like the blue flames at the center of a hearth fire. Unlike the serpent, it listened for the one it hunted. This one’s soft murmurs while lost in dreams of a better place, of a world without so much strife, were special.
The one they both sought was unlike the rest. This one mattered.
Loved by many. Clever in ways so few are. A source of joy, of laughter, of life.
