The First Fight

Both Karina and Gale are gone when I wake up. Despite having said that I want to take one of the night watches, no one woke me up. Thanks to that I actually feel rested. The tent around me is empty, and most things are already packed up. With the sunlight already bright, I get up quickly, dress and pack up my things as well.

After a quick breakfast we break down the camp and get on our way. The further we walk away from the city, the less people we encounter on the road. Where the fields were full or workers before, there are large expanses here without anyone present. Much of the land is charred as if there had already been a battle before. Around these dead patches, wheat and other produce is still growing as if nothing had happened.

“And your family has been staying out here despite the threat?” I ask Nono as we walk through yet another stretch of burned trees.

“If only the fields near the city are maintained, there won’t be enough for everyone to eat during the winter. It’s vital we stay,” Nono says.

But aren’t you on the side of the demon king?

“There are several families, who still remain on their farms at all sides of the frontline,” Safrim says. “Without them, Atol would fall. We focus our efforts to hold back the demons especially around these lands.”

“How many people are in your family, Nono?” I ask.

“There’s… let me think. Me and my brother. I have another two, little sisters. My parents and one of my grandparents. My father’s sister and her family also live on the farm, and there are another five people. We have a few voluntary helpers too. About twenty people, all in all, are at the Lylt farm right now.”

It sounds so convincing, the way she lists them all. If I just put the nightly visit out of my mind, I can believe it.

“Some of the volunteers are able to fight, but there are also some troops stationed there,” Safrim says. “But we don’t know how long we can hold the line.”

Nono smiles and it’s actually sad. “We stay until we can’t.”

Karina puts an arm around her shoulder. “That’s why your contribution is so important. My father has always said so.”

“Thank you, Kari.”

“Kari?” I ask.

“Friends have nicknames,” Karina says. “Isn’t that right Nonochi?”

“Right, Kari.”

Nono smiles genuinely at her friend, yet the brilliant smile falls as we exit the tree line. Behind the hills, dark smoke is rising to the skies. Exactly where the road leads to.

“No, no…” she stammers. “I don’t… No…”

All colour is drained from her face and she drops her pack. Moments later she starts running towards the farm, away from all of us.

“Shit. Come on, run” Safrim shouts.

And we do run. Run like hell. Karina snatches up Nono’s pack and sprints ahead, together with Safrim. Poru and I are not as fast, but we sure are trying. The road ahead is broad, but it sneaks through several valleys, and it takes a while until we can lay eyes on the Lylt farm. But finally we pass the last crest and look down on the valley, in which the farmlands stretch out.

Yet we don’t see lush fields and rolling hills. We see burning buildings and small, dark figures running across the fields. There is fighting already, all around the area, magic sparking and explosions audible even here. The human troops seem to outnumber the small demons running and flying about, but at the horizon, a large shadow looms and is slowly crawling closer through the smoke.

The demons at the gate were only a glimpse into the reality these people are facing. This… this is horrible. I can smell the burning plants, and somewhere underneath it all, a strange, acrid and sweet stench like rotten meat. And even this is likely not as worse as the demon lands themselves. Vast stretches of burned fields and destroyed cities. This reality is…

“Yuki, quick! We can’t let Nono go into this alone!” Poru grabs my sleeve and pulls me ahead.

It’s only then I realise that Safrim and Karina are already out of view, somewhere down there, in the conflict zone. They are used to it all, the demons and the violence. I’m from a country in which the worst threat is an earthquake. There are no demons to contend with—at most a thief or a swindler. I am decidedly not used to this, but I need to be. Fast.

Nono’s words echo in my head as I chase after her. I have no stake in this war. I could just leave. Would she save me if I told her to? Would she deliver me from danger in an emergency? Would the demons let me go on her orders?

Who is she?

Poru drags me onwards, down the road. A shadow passes overhead and screeches and I feel a chill down to my bones. This is it. The demons. They’re here.

“Watch out!” Poru yells and a flash of light blinds me.

In front of us, a charred body drops to the ground, twitching. It reeks. It looks like a burned bird, twisted up.

“Don’t stop. We need to reach the others. I can keep the small ones away, but I’m not a fighter.”

“Right… right…”

I will my legs to move and they do, luckily. We run along the road, dodging the odd swoop from the sky. Poru shoots beams of light from his hands at the attackers, making them back off. Then it hits me. What did they say about Erya’s blessing? I touch my own arm and bless myself. The light surrounds me like a shield and behind me, I hear a screech. With haste, I renew the blessing on Poru as well. The rest of the way is free, as the small demons shy away from us, away from the light.

“Good thinking! Ah, there they are!”

Karina stands with her back to a woman I’ve never seen before. She wears a uniform of the city guard. Both of them fling magic projectiles at the larger demons surrounding them, which look like giant stick insects, lanky and unnatural.

“Yuki, here!”

Safrim calls me and I can’t immediately see him, until he waves from behind a low wall. We cross the distance to see several people lying there, in various states of injury and consciousness. Next to an older woman, Nono kneels. She is crying actual tears as she holds the woman’s hand.

“Mom, mom, please…” she sobs. “Don’t give up.”

The woman is too delirious to answer. Poru falls to his knees beside them and holds out his hands over her body.

“I can heal them. You deal with the rest of the attack.”

“If they’re here, the frontline has been breached. We have to push them back, but we don’t have the manpower if the ones out there are lost,” Safrim says. “For now we best fall back and establish a new line.”

“And desert these people?” I ask.

“They knew the risk. We can’t send troops into battle over a lost cause. This farm is gone. We need to make sure they can’t progress further.”

“If everyone is attacking here, the place we wanted to infiltrate might be less guarded,” I say.

“No matter if we go back or sneak forward, Lylt farm is lost,” Nono says. “Is that what you’re saying, Captain Kal?”

“I am,” he confirms, without doubt in his voice.

“I won’t accept that.”

“There’s nothing we can do.”

“We can! We have the hero! With his blessing, we can strike back!”

“Nono, we—”

“Nono may be right,” Poru says. “After Yuki blessed us, no demon dared to come close. We could push them back from the buildings, make a stand here.”

“You can’t be serious,” Safrim says.

“Dead serious. If you don’t trust in his powers, then why are you even here?”

I bite my lip. Don’t put your trust into the guy you literally just met five days ago. But, hey. Someone said I’m a hero, so I have to be. I take a deep breath.

“What can I do?” I ask.

Safrim sighs. “These undead demons are formed when a dark mage captures the essence of a deceased life-form and infuses it with darkness. This forms a core, through which the life-form is sustained and controlled. If you counter the core with light, the spell unravels. Usually only light mages can do this, and there are few about.”

“But Karina is killing them right now?”

“She is, but not completely. There is always a core of darkness, which remains and can be revived by a dark mage. If the mage is particularly strong, they can sometimes crush the core without light, but that requires excessive force. I don’t think she is capable of that.”

“So… Poru-in can fight them?”

Poru shakes his head. “Usually, the light mages wander the battlefield after the fighters are through and purify the leftover cores.”

“I need to assess how many of our troops are left. We’ve already found the bodies of most of the volunteers. You stay with Nono and Karina, I will be back.”

I reach out and bestow a blessing on him before he leaves. The main farm buildings are still some distance away. I watch as Safrim unsheathes his sword and makes a dash for them. Almost immediately, the demons in the air recognise the movement and dive, but none of them can reach. He summons up a storm around him, wind whipping the small creatures out of the air and away from him. They tumble and crash, injured, but not dead. Poru is still healing the people behind the wall, his face a mask of quiet determination. Nono has somewhat calmed down in the meantime, and our eyes meet when she looks up.

“I’m going with him,” she says.

“With who?”

“The captain. He needs someone who knows the area.”

“He’s already—Nono!”