Attacking the Castle

We return to the basement of the inn, with no demon inside, just an unnatural silence. There are no birds here, no insects. I don’t even know how the pears could grow without insects to pollinate the trees. Something is definitely wrong here. When I ask Nono about it in a secret moment, she just shrugs. It’s always been like that. All of the demon lands are a wild land full of monstrous plant growth. Closer to the center of the continent, there is a jungle, impenetrable. There are no animals there, either. Whatever did these mages do?

Looking through the old storage of the inn, I quickly learn that I can’t bring back rotten or dried out food. I suppose that is because it isn’t technically broken. The parts of a broken mirror are still the mirror, even if they are otherwise distributed. A rotten fruit is still intact, just advanced in time. Maybe, further down the skill tree, I may be able to restore these too.

“No luck with the bread?” Nono asks.

“None. I have my theories, but it doesn’t change anything about the outcome.”

She looks over to the other three, where Karina is creating a fire—a ball, contained in itself, hovering above the ground.

“How are you holding up?” she asks. “You’ve been here for only about two weeks. I don’t know what you’ve done before, but it’s likely different than fighting demons.”

“You’re asking me how I’m doing? Do you care?”

“You wound me.”

“Really?”

Nono chuckles. “If you’re doing badly, you’re more likely to take the deal, is all.”

“Ah, of course. To your dismay, I’m actually doing alright. We even have beds tonight!”

“Alright, alright.”

—--

We agree to leave Poru at the base camp. He isn’t all that happy about it, but someone needs to be the safeguard if everything fails. If we don’t return, he will go back to the frontline on his own and tell everyone what we tried to do. With his light magic, he is able to defend himself, at least for a short while.

So we are four people and a cat, standing at the bottom of the slope beneath the castle, where the vines are creeping all the way up the ramparts. The demon king’s army doesn’t think much of maintenance, since they never stay in one place for long on their constant quest to invade more territory.

The climb is grueling. We’re starting just around sunrise, when the outlines of the castle above come into view. While the vines are plentiful, they are also confusing to navigate and often peppered with spikes. My clothes may mend themselves, but the scratches still hurt. It’s a wonder we make it up to what must be the equivalent of ten or twelve stories in one piece. Gale is waiting for us at the top. I shoot him a look, which hopefully tells us that he could’ve done all this without us, and probably better. He ignores me.

The rampart is overgrown and deserted, as is the courtyard below. The building is partially collapsed, but mostly intact. Still… there is no one here. Above us, the sky still swirls, and the smoke is disappearing into the open windows of the largest building inside the castle walls. It is also the only building with a light on. After walking through this dead and desolate place for two days, the light feels more than welcoming, though it marks the very place we should avoid.

“They’re in there,” Karina whispers.

“Are there guards?”

“I can’t make out any. That’s strange. Did they send all the demons to reinforce their defenses at the border?” Safrim muses.

I look at Nono and she rolls her eyes, then nods. So what Safrim said is true. All of a sudden, there is movement in the window. A figure, completely dark against the light in its back, appears at the opening. They throw something into the courtyard, which hisses upon contact with the ground. There is a crater there, which means it wasn’t the first object to be thrown like this.

The object starts glowing blue and I can see it is a sphere. A core. Shadows spike from it as it twists itself into the form of a large hound. As soon as it’s fully emerged, it turns towards the large gate and runs off. The figure disappears once more.

“The demon production is running.”

“How can we stop it?” Karina asks.

“We don’t,” Safrim replies. “And you know that. We’re here to burn the place down and use their tactics on themselves. That will hopefully put a dent in the production and also call demons back.”

“I know, I know. It just feels wrong to be so close and not do anything.”

“We are doing something.”

“Yuki is right. We’re doing more than the human troops of Atol have done for years. So, remember. We set the fire charges, then meet near the gate, detonate all of them at once and flee down the path. Karina is with me, Nono with Yuki. You ladies are our firestarters.”

“Right,” Nono says.

“You already know that everything I do will be met with success,” Karina says with a grin.

“Meow.”

“See? Even Gale agrees.”

Safrim smiles and squeezes her arm.

“Let’s go. No one leaves until we’re not all at the gate.”

Everyone confirms the plan with a nod and just like that I’m on my own with Nono.

“Have you been here before?” I ask her.

“Yes. But I won’t make it too easy for you. You know I want you to suffer.”

“Right. I’m so scared. Just tell me how to set fireballs on the floor underneath that dark mage.”

“Oh?” Nono stops and crosses her arms. “I thought that wasn’t the plan?”

“The plan is to set fires in vulnerable places and that place is definitely vulnerable.”

“And dangerous. For you at least.”

It’s finally my time to grin.

“Your task is to bring me to the demon king alive, isn’t it? You won’t let me come to harm.”

“Alive doesn’t mean unhurt.”

“I’m willing to risk it.”

“Why did I volunteer for this?” she laments, and if that isn’t a tasty tidbit? “Follow me.”

“Roger, Captain Nono.”

She rolls her eyes again and walks ahead. I follow her along the rampart, into the direction of the building. Nono leads me through a disused doorway and into the interior. The soundscape in here immediately changes. Instead of the rush of the wind, I hear a low hum, like electricity, in the background. It’s like a physical presence in the air.

“You look like you can feel it. A lot of energy is being moved here. The fog is the result of demons dying on the frontlines. The mages in here siphon the leftovers into new demons. If a core isn’t purified, it can either be directly revived or reused after it dissolves into smoke.”

“Why are you telling me all this? Isn’t that… classified information?”

“It’s nothing people haven’t found out yet. Besides, doesn’t it make you think better about me?”

“Witch.”

“Thank you.”

As we turn the next corner, Nono holds up a finger to indicate silence. There’s a staircase up ahead, but a light is shining from it. To reach the floors below, we need to pass the mages themselves.

“We could turn back and go down to the courtyard,” she whispers into my ear.

I shake my head. No. I’m here already, so I’m doing this. The HR manager. Doing this. Fuck. Here we go. I wave for her to go ahead and we sneak through the stairs. When we reach the floor below, the corridor outside is illuminated. Not only that, it is actually furnished, and lavishly at that. It’s like stumbling through time, from a present ruin into past glory. It looks right like out of a medieval fantasy castle, with brocade and satin, gleaming golden decorations and plush carpets.

I can stare for only a few seconds, when Nono grabs my arm and pulls me into the shadows. There are footsteps in the distance, fading in intensity when they hit the carpet, steadily coming closer. Nono murmurs something and a shadowy veil closes around us. I want to ask her what it does, but she puts a hand over my mouth immediately.

And then the person in the corridor walks by without a care in the world. They are what looks like a child, but since they are a dark elf, they could be older than any of us, even Poru. Dark skin, long, white hair, pointy ears, wrapped in a simple, white robe, which trails behind them. I can see them for a mere second until they disappear again.

“Tch, it’s Din,” Nono says after the footsteps are gone. “Come on.”

“What do you mean, Din?” I hiss.

“I know him. He’a an asshole. I’ll enjoy blowing his castle to high heavens. Come on. Quickly.”