E05 - Ch 21: Nightmare

"Pa! Ma!" Aelric called as he pushed open the door of his family's cabin. The interior was entirely dark, but he heard his parents' stirring movements from their room.

"Aelric?" his father called through the door, his voice unusually alert for so late an hour, likely having not been able to sleep.

"What's wrong?" His mother seemed to have sensed the note of his voice.

They met at the bedroom door at the same time. As his father opened the door, his mother lit an oil lamp with a match that lit their faces.

"Chief Clarity's called a village emergency,” Aelric said. “It's Procedure Riverstone. I don't have time to explain, I've got to go, but you need to get yourselves to the shelter by the lake."

"Is the village under attack?" his mother said, her face creasing with worry having recognized the procedure.

"I don't know. Not yet. But Chief Clarity's taking precautions. It's the Ascendant woman from today. The one sitting at the elder’s table. She—look, I don't have time to explain. I've got to go find Brint and see this through. Just promise me you'll get yourselves to the shelter!" Aelric turned to leave, but his father caught his shoulder with a firm grip.

"Wait, son. Procedure Riverstone sends half the village's abled to the village square. I don't have a lot of arcumen, but I can still lend a hand." His father's weathered face showed the same determination Aelric had seen countless times in his youth, but now it seemed he saw an edge of stubborness that he had not noticed before.

"No!" Aelric exclaimed, shrugging off his father's hand. "You and Ma both need to go to the shelter. This is an Ascendant, Pa, she already nearly killed me and Brint!" The memory of that encounter sent a chill down his spine.

"When was this?" his mother said, her face turning white.

"I don't have time to explain! I've got to go! Just get to the shelter, and tell whoever you meet on the way!"

Then he bolted out the door before they could barrage him with further questions, the night breeze whipping through his hair as he ran. Behind him, he could hear his mother calling after him, but he forced himself not to look back.

As he sprinted back toward the forest, Aelric noticed cabin windows lighting up in the distant fields like stars winking into existence across the moon-silver fields. The village was being roused all around him, laterns flickering to life and voices calling out into the night. He felt a surge of relief knowing he was no longer alone in this fight, the weight on his shoulders lightening and only then did he realize just how much anxiety and fright he had been carrying since the confrontation with Syl.

He knew that he and the villagers were only mere Earthborn with Earthborn arcumens facing an Ascendant who could likely destroy them all. But Chief Clarity had taken charge of the situation with a composure Aelric wished he possessed, her steady voice carrying authority that seemed to settle the rising panic in his heart.

The village had trained once a year for a threat that alternated between three different scenarios. The drills were so ingrained now over so many years that everyone grumbled the day of each year the village spent practicing them that took everyone away from their chores and fields.

For Procedure Riverstone, the children and those who could not fight would hide in a cave near the lake, its entrance concealed by thick brush. It was not big enough to hold everyone, but half of the villagers would gather at the village square, forming a last line of defense if Brant and the hunters failed and Kallow's men didn't arrive in time.

None of the villagers were fighters, but some knew a spell or two that could be used in combat, and really it was the numbers that counted. Procedure Riverstone was specifically designed for this situation when a small group of adversaries attacked the village. The idea was to overwhelm the enemy with sheer force of numbers until help could arrive.

Although the Ironblood was away at the moment, Aelric knew many of Legionaire Kallow's men were Sealed, their arcumens far superior to anyone in the village. But the Legionaire's manor lay leagues away. Even if they moved with utmost haste, it could be half a chant before help arrived. As far as Aelric knew, just how fast they would come was never tested as no such emergency had occurred in recent memory, and the thought made his palms sweat.

But despite his uncertainty, Aelric felt that everything would turn out alright. It was Chief Clarity's commanding presence, the village's well-trained procedures springing into motion, and the fact Brint had already bested Sylvara once before that kindled his hope.

More than that, perhaps most important of all, he felt truly part of the village for perhaps the first time in his life. They were in this together, united against a common threat, and they would all see it through by relying on each other.

Just as his heart swelled with these thoughts, he saw a dark shape cut through the fields ahead, moving with an unnatural speed that made his blood run cold.

His heart skipped then, for its shape was not human. It was a nightmarish thing that Aelric had only ever heard in legends and stories. Its body moved stealthily in the night, thick limbs swinging at its side. And on the top of its dark head, there was something curling, rough and rigid, that seemed to drink in what little moonlight touched them. They were horns.

Aelric glanced in the direction it had come and he saw only darkness. There were no lights from village homes.

Then the monster’s path curved and disappeared over a hill, leaving trampled wheat stalks in its wake. Aelric's heart turned to ice. Feyna's home was still some distance away, but the monster was now headed in its direction.

She would have left by now, he told himself. But he was already changing course, chasing after the shadow, running with all his might after the shadowy creature, his lungs burning and his heart pounding in his chest, but he was already tired from the day’s events, and he could not keep pace.

He came over the hill only to see it dash over another hill. His footsteps landed hard and shaky they carried him down the trough and up the ridge again, and once again he saw the monster crest the next hill. His body couldn't keep the monster's pace, but Feyna's home was not far now. He had to keep going, and so he pushed onward, his mind ignoring the complaints of his body.

Again he reached the top of the next hill, and this time he did not see the monster, it had already passed over the next crest. A sickening feeling took hold of Aelric’s heart. Feyna's home was just beyond that hill. The muscles in his legs screamed at him, but Aelric gritted his teeth and refused to let up, forcing them to carry him forward.

Just get to the top, he silently begged them. Maybe it has run right past Feyna's house.

The screams came just before he reached the top of the hill. Suddenly, he found a hidden reserve of strength that he'd not known he possessed, and he bounded up the last few strides, his wide eyes finding what he feared most.

Feyna and Feyla were a dozen feet from her family’s home, looking as if they had just left. The shadow chased them back toward the house, the darkness of its form seeming immune to the moon’s light.

Feyla was keeping pace with her older sister, but the young girl suddenly tripped and fell hard on the ground.

Feyna skidded to a halt, whirling around to face the creature. "Plow Earth!" She spat an incantation as her hands came down, fingers spread, burning with brilliant blue arcana as they touched the earth.

The ground rolled up like a carpet that shot past Feyla, hitting the monster in the legs, sending it face first into the dirt. The creature, no, Aelric realized, the demon let out an enraged shriek. It was only a momentary setback, doing little harm, but it was enough to briefly halt the demon’s advance.

"Run, Feyla!" Feyna screamed to her sister, her voice cracking with desperation.

But Feyla was crying, clutching her knee where she had fallen, her small frame shaking with sobs.

Aelric was already racing down the hill, heart pounding, he barely felt his feet touching the ground. The monstrous shadow creature had stood again and now loomed over Feyla, claws reaching downward.

Feyna threw down the pack on her shoulder she'd been carrying and was running toward her sister now, but Aelric knew they would both be too late.

"Demon!" Aelric screamed at the top of his lungs. Not a shout of warning but a challenge.

The shadowy beast spun to face him as if sensing a threat, its eye sockets so black they looked empty, boring into Aelric as its maw twisted into a sickly yellow snarl. Aelric hurled himself at the creature just as it lashed out with black knife-sharp claws. He leaped and ducked beneath the deadly swipe, scooping up Feyla as he went and rolled across the dirt, shielding her with his body.

In a heartbeat, he was back on his feet, clutching the little girl tightly under his arm as Feyna shoved open the door to her home, screaming for them to get inside.

He rushed through the doorway and Feyna slammed the door shut behind them, pulling down the latch. All three of them slid to the floor with exhaustion but their backs pressed against the sturdy wood of the door, for fear of letting go and letting a demon inside.

"Your parents?" Aelric asked Feyna, his voice strained.

"Called away by Chief Clarity," she replied breathlessly. "We were headed to the shelter."

Aelric remembered the bag Feyna had thrown down. They must have packed provisions before leaving, thinking they still had time.

"Is it a demon?" Feyla whispered, her small voice trembling with fear.

Before Aelric or Feyna could muster a response, an ear-splitting, wailing roar shook the very walls of the cabin. Suddenly, the roof above them was ripped away, leaving a gaping hole that revealed the star-strewn night sky. Bits of thatched hay rained down around them as they stared up in horror.

Then the top of the timber door exploded inward, sending jagged shards of wood flying through the air and into the house.

"Go!" Aelric roared, and he and the two sisters rushed deeper into the cabin. It was twice the size of his family's home, but he'd visited Feyna enough times when her parents weren't home to remember the layout, and he ushered them through the hallway, past Feyna's room and into the kitchen.

He dragged the dining room table, wood plates and spoons falling to the ground, as he shoved it against the hallway’s opening. Feyna handed him a bench which he shoved above the tipped table, covering the opening further. Just beyond the demon swiped down the doorframe of the other end of the hall, more hay falling from the thatched roof above.

The demon seemed bigger in size now, struggling to move freely inside the cabin walls and down the hall's path.

Feyla was screaming again, and this seemed to embolden the demon, its attack on the house growing more ferocious. The entire structure shook with each chunk taken by the demon's claws.

"We've got to keep moving!" Feyna shouted as she picked up her little sister.

They could go through the back door, but then what? Aelric knew they couldn't outrun the monster, he'd already seen how fast it could move. And there was only grass and fields outside. There was nowhere to hide from the demon.

He couldn't fight it. He had no magic and no weapon. But then, glancing at Feyla, a sudden thought flashed through his mind.

Man shies from my touch. Demons don't like me very much.

Fire!

He turned to the kitchen's cookpot, his heart sinking as he found the hearth empty of flame. But the coals were still hot. Feyna and Feyla must have seen his expression because instantly all three of them were kneeling beneath the cookpot and blowing at the coals.

He had no idea if there was any truth to a children's riddle as there were also tales that demons lived in the fiery underbelly of the world, but in his heart he prayed to Heleric it would work. One of the timber sticks began to light up just as Aelric heard the table and bench explode behind him.

He grabbed it and spun around, pressing it toward the demon just as it took a step into the kitchen.

The demon flinched at the sight of the small, growing ember on the end of the timber stick.

"Begone!" Aelric screamed, waving it at the demon while pressing the girls behind him to escape through the back door. They followed his touch, rushing out the back as Aelric pushed his advantage, thrusting the burning wood like a sword.

With each second the fire burned brighter, and the demon screeched as it shrank away back into the corridor.

Then Aelric made a critical error. Instead of continuing to thrust at the demon, he had brought the stick over his head for a downward swing. The demon lashed out with a kick that struck him square in his open belly. His body was suddenly in motion, flying through air, shooting through the back door, the kitchen and cabin reeling away from him, then grass rushing beneath his outstretched legs before his bottom bounced off the ground, sending him tumbling through stalks of wheat.

He seemed to lose consciousness for a moment before opening his eyes and seeing the moon high overhead. His entire body was in agony as he turned to his side and retched bloody half-digested food he'd eaten at the harvest festival.

He tried to rise, his eyes searching for Feyna and Feyla, his mind both dazed and panicked. In his blurred vision he thought he saw them running toward him. Gods, just how far had this demon thrown him? The demon was not far behind, but it was moving slowly, as if with great difficulty.

Feyna must have hit it with something, Aelric thought.

Despite his pain and dizziness, Aelric knew he had to rise. That demonic beast would not be stalled for long. But just as he got one foot on the ground, he saw a sight that he could not believe.

Syl stood just a dozen steps away. Dark arcana was clasped in her hands. Her face was contorted in a deadly snarl.