Guilt and Escort

“What the hell?!” The man looked shocked as he realized what he was doing.

He’d run across the city on orders from the head of the Order, which had trickled down to the secretary of their battalion, then the captains of the platoons, and ultimately landed on him who just happened to walk past his assigned outpost as the captain yelled at him in urgency. He had thought of the task as an immense chore for only a split second, when he blinked and the outpost chattered in his wake, the blood of the captain splattering on his clothes as he was thrown into the street by the flames' pressure. He’d rushed to the cabin, done as instructed, not taking a moment to think about the words that had been told to him—the order he was supposed to give. The four children stayed silent, waiting for instruction like pigeons waiting for food, without thought; just hunger. There were two boys, one with black hair, taller than the other four, and a shorter blonde boy with a seemingly normal complexion as the man looked at them in the dark shed. The two girls were about the same height, slightly taller than that boy with golden hair. One had blonde hair that drooped down, resting on her unmoving shoulders, with burns on her arms akin to symbols whilst the other had shorter white hair that would make her easy to confuse with a boy, the distinction factor being her more pronounced curves and fairer hands. They all wore the same big headband adorned with small jewels at the sides and rags for clothes which seemed weeks old. The man gulped at the sight of the children, a fear of death pressing on his morals as he took a step back, a step that was meant to pull him out of the dilemma but rather cemented his resolve and pushed forward, away from his empathetic thoughts.

“Your orders are to- BAM!”

A sudden slam at the door caught him off guard as a single sweat drop traveled down from his forehead into his eye causing it to twitch. Snapping his head back to look at the culprit, his head sunk to the floor at the sight of red glowing through the slit at the bottom of the door. He’d avoided serving time in the Order by focusing his entire career on keeping the budget for the military company afloat. The man was a non-combatant in the City a Jandra, a rarity among rarity that flew past the radar by hiding in the very organization. He’d lived a peaceful life having consumed the majority of it with work and sleep, and had expected a few more years out of it; yet the door in front of him began to snap. The children looked down at the man, still waiting for their purpose, the goal for their consciousness.

Their eyes were as empty as shells, their breathing calm and glaring daggers stabbing the man. They were weapons in need of ammo, guns needed bullets.

The door burst open, the wood clattering to the ground and V-shaped head poking in. A demon with red skin and monster-like features had followed the man to the shed and finally put together that he was in the shed. The creature was a lower demon, a devil, with pointed horns furthering the outline of the V shape its head took, the mouth clenched open and yellow teeth showed and glowed as saliva drooled from the edges of its mouth.

The man staggers to his feet and loses balance immediately, falling flat on his butt and chanting in distress. His hand rises like a conductor, yelling [Earth Wall] propagating the ground to hold back the door, tearing through the wooden floor and blocking out the light from outside.

A ringing sound was flowing through the walls, the saltomyns sounding loudly in the night filling the room with noise with the demon now blocked off. The man sat down on his behind with both his arms holding him up as he let out a sigh of relief. Looking up to the dark ceiling his eyes met four faces, the children still awaiting his order; looking down at him with not the slightest glint of fear or emotion. He snapped his head back forward and dusted himself up, legs shaking slightly and breathing somewhat hurried.

Footsteps began to circle around the shed, the demon lurking outside. The man gulped before opening his mouth—getting ready to follow through with his task.

Tsk

He looked at the children and walked to the blockaded door. The man could not follow through with his mission, to put the lives of those children at risk just to save the lives of those in the city, to him it was too cruel an order. To have them lay down their lives and stop the invasion at all costs, was the order he was told to give. These children were the Kings’ Order’s most prestigious and strongest branch, four exceptional children with an abundance of mana to serve their nation. He’d heard that they were treated like royalty, able to level towns on their own. But the moment he saw them, shaking them awake, he’d thought something deplorable at the sight of them. That it served them right, to be like that, nothing but weapons for the war. He was disgusted at himself, not knowing where the thought had come from, he tore down his wall and burst open the door. He was angry at himself, at his hypocrisy and lack of empathy.

“I’m right here!” he yelled, running out into the open and finding the demon just as he was turning the corner at the shed.

What he’d seen in that shed was nothing less then torture and human slavery, something that had been abolished by kings centuries ago. He renounced his order and was now willing to fight with life on the line in order to save those children from both the demons and the Order.

He yelled in rage as the demon charged at him, raising his hands and casting an incomplete spell making rocks shoot from the ground in all directions.

The demon landed in front of him and clawed him to the ground, a hole in his leg seemingly a decoration for the creature. It yelled at the sky, the plastered grin on its face stretching with the skin, beginning to burn him from the inside out.

“Dammit!” he cried.

The demon was in furia, making him essentially immune to anything for as long as his body could function. Its skin started to tear in ashes as the man cursed his existence. He regretted taking that late night walk, the one that led him here.

His vision blurred and snivels started to claim his nose. Tears flowed down as the demon brought down his claws, missing his major organs and making him cry out in pain.

Tears flowed and flowed, a puddle, his ocean, beginning to grow under him. A pool of blood was added to the mix when a cold burn stabbed him on his left side, the demon's hand pulling out of the dirt; his arm now separated from his body. The man cried and cried, replaying all the things he regretted, the waste of a life he’d led, the mess of emotions overwritten by the pain he was feeling. Through the river of tears, the man looked at the shed, the children looking at him with an unmoving gaze.

The demon yelled once more, its face stretching in bizarre proportions to satisfy its glee.

He saw a man slowly walk down the hill, making eye contact with his contorted face and shriveled eyes and mouth. They wore the white coat, one of his comrades. Looking at him the man turned away at the sorry sight.

Shlick.

The man looked at the children who turned to face him. The demon wailed in joy, snapping its head in their direction, leaving a lifeless body in its wake, an unfortunate bystander killed in the line of duty.

“I’m glad I didn’t have to kill him myself.” The cloaked man mumbled.

The saltomyns rattles became louder as they burrowed into the trees. Their nocturnal nature made them the ambient noise of the forest, a sound shockingly similar to crickets.

The demon dashed to ward the man in white, his body on fire from his rage, his furia state. The man looked at the taller boy apathetically, like he wasn’t human, it wasn’t human.

“Your order: Protect me at all costs”

In an instant, the jewels in the boy’s headband began to glow and his mouth opened to speak a chant. His palm raised face down aiming it at the demon.

“[Graviatus]” he said, bringing his palm down, the demon suddenly slamming to the ground as gravity made it impossible for it to stand; The force of the spell speeding up the demon’s combustion and ultimately leaving it as nothing but an ashen corpse.

“...”

The man saw the results, his wide shoulders stretching to see all the work he’d put in finding the four finally come to fruition. He looked back at the city through the converging hills, the flames fanning and demons running rampant.

“This city is finished,” he said coldly.

Turning his back on his previous home the broad man cleared his throat.

“Your orders are as follows: Travel to the capital of the nation of Falmah, the city of Ydiria, and become the King’s tools. I am your escort, and you are to protect me on our journey.”

The four children remained frozen, not a muscle twitch nor a breath was taken as the jewels glowed, flickering on and off.

““““Understood.”””” 

They now awaited their escort to point them in the right direction; The man beginning to walk in front of them, taking the lead per his role. The five started to leave the Battle City of Jandra, the place where the war was kept at bay.

A sudden gust of wind picked up, an object flying through the air straight at the cloaked man. The boy with golden hair mumbled a chant and spread out his arms, a small ball of light igniting into a great flash.

“[Solar Flash]!” yelled the boy.

The light illuminated the forest as if it was the sun itself, creating long shadows and a sudden heatwave emanating from the spell's core.

“Hahaha! Leaving so soon?”

A masculine voice sounded through the trees. Shaking around in the tall branches before suddenly dropping from above and into the man's line of sight. It was a demon with strange skin, a mix of red and grey spiraling along its shirtless chest. A horn protruded from its cheek, and their hair was white with facial features more humanlike than the one he’d just had killed.

“Where are you headed?”

The demon asked, looking down at the ground as it slowly ascended on its feet. The demon’s gaze rises to meet its new prey. The eyes were blue, a strange contrast from all the demons red. They looked at the man in hunger before suddenly opening further, widening at the sight he was presented with.

Oh ho wow! If it isn’t WILMHEART!”

He raised his arm up to his neck and rubbed it as if he was a nervous teenager. His head tilting in a flirtatious motion, glancing at him in a sarcastic embarrassment.

“Remember me?”