A Knives' Defense

The high winds had settled into an uncanny stillness. Kaelan stood on the Grand Balcony that extended out from the ceremonial hall, where the scent of decay drifted through.

He tightened his grip on his daggers and blocked the path to Maria, who knelt at the edge of the stone railing. Her wavy honey hair barely moved a strand under the growing tension, but she remained with her eyes shut, seemingly unfazed as she mumbled in prayer.

From the shadowed threshold of the hall, Demon General Malakor remained standing with his long, miasmic sword in hand and a simple smile.

“You have a death wish, assassin?”

“...You’ll have to tear me limb from limb to get me off this spot.”

Malakor shrugged. “So be it.”

Kaelan held his breath as the pack of Aberrations crept out of the darkness past the Demon General. His heart raced and breathing quickened, but he remained planted in front of Maria.

Unlike Thomas, Kaelan held no deep knowledge of such creatures. No name for the Aberrations he faced. Did a name even exist?

He recalled the Pale Hound—the named Aberration they faced in the depths of the ancient dungeon. He fought his body to move against that thing. The undeniable fear that the creatures in front instilled in him was no different, but their appearance was. A twitching mass of shadow and bone, struggling to maintain the shape of a beast.

But Kaelan didn’t have the luxury of hesitation. Two of the creatures pounced without warning. He moved on instinct, ducking beneath their sweeping claws; or rather, jagged bone itself.

A third lunged past him altogether with a screeching growl, but Kaelan intercepted before it could ever reach Maria’s neck. He struck the creature, but the blows bounced off with a clang.

I need to find a weak spot!

Eventually he did. He drove a dagger under its jaw; black liquid spewed out with a miasmic radiance that made Kaelan’s eyes water. The creature staggered back, but it did not fall in defeat.

Kaelan panted. Could such creatures even fall to a man’s blade? He’d barely held off the first wave of attacks and already his arms trembled. It was like clashing against a brick wall.

He held his gaze over Maria, tuning out the chaotic echoes throughout the capital behind, and the unearthly growls ahead. He focused on her soft murmurs; poetic words to the gods that made her divine mana slowly spill forth in comforting warmth. It eased his doubts and propelled him past fear.

Kaelan clashed against the creatures again and again; slashing, stabbing, while avoiding what he could. But some of their attacks were unavoidable. A heavy blow against his chest left him gasping for air. A rib or two had surely cracked.

But Kaelan clenched his teeth and fought through pain and blood while his mind drifted through memories.

He arrived at Maria’s location intending to execute her. What he found wasn’t a heavily guarded tower harboring a monster—the great threat Vane had painted. It was quite the opposite.

Even so, her gentle warmth was a dangerous delusion; a fragile lie that would only lead to tragedy. And yet, the morning he awakened in the chapel’s cellar, his fatal wound had been completely mended by a woman who had no reason to spare him.

Now, Kaelan stood near the peak of an actual tower protecting the supposed threat from true monsters. He almost chuckled at the irony of his own existence. Who knew knives held more value than just taking lives?

Kaelan held out his daggers firmly, ignoring his heavy arms. Ready for the next wave of attacks.

Malakor glared just beyond the shadowed threshold ahead. “You waste your time, assassin.”

“Good.” Kaelan grinned. “That’s my intent.”

Something had changed behind him.

Maria’s voice was no longer a whisper; it rose like a crescendo. Each word resonated over the Grand Balcony and echoed within the ceremonial hall. The stale air was no longer in uneasy stillness. It vibrated with a building warmth and a radiance that fought against the scent of decay.

Malakor’s eyes went wide.

What began as a soft prayer—comforting, poetic words Kaelan had heard her murmur countless times before—had shifted. The cadence was different. The language altered. It was no longer the common tongue, nor any dialect spoken by men. None that Kaelan knew of, or could even imagine, anyway.

The Aberrations remained hesitant. Same as Malakor.

Kaelan watched in awe as specks of gold flickered to life around her. “Maria…”

Her words were like a grand choir, with gentle bell chimes that no manmade ones could ever hope to recreate.

The sound hummed in Kaelan's chest, soothing his muscles that burned with fatigue. He wondered if Maria herself even consciously understood the words pouring from her lips, or if she had simply yielded her voice to the light of the gods.

“Divine tongue…?” Malakor muttered.

Kaelan almost dropped his daggers watching the scene unfold.

Maria’s divine mana shot straight up in a fierce, radiant swirl, past the peak of the Grand Cathedral spire. It split the heavens, parting the clouds with ripples of gold. Soon the clouds stormed down fluttering flakes of radiant mana, engulfing the entire capital in a subtle golden glow.

The dark, miasmic sigils that Malakor had carved into the city’s bedrock destabilized, sputtering violently. The abysmal portals contorted and collapsed.

Through the parting clouds, countless translucent, angelic-like figures formed and drifted down. They graced the burning streets below. Any aberrations in the wake disintegrated with a simple touch, leaving behind only a pile of black ash.

Malakor stammered. “That’s a mythic-level spell…”

Panicked civilians watched in disbelief as torn limbs and ravaged bodies healed in an instant. Soldiers on the brink of death stood once more under the caressing touch of light. And even some who remained motionless, seemingly with no breath of life, rose again with an angelic touch.

A subtle hum filled the remaining silence across the Holy Capital.

Above Maria's head, a luminous ring began to ignite.

“She’s awakening…” Malakor’s calm expression had long since shattered. “Enough of this!”

He commanded the remaining aberrations forward. The creatures fought through the hesitation and lunged to attack once more.

Kaelan’s body was far past its limit. Blood dripped from a deep gash near his temple, blurring his vision. His cloak was shredded and soaked through with sweat and blood.

But cried out past ragged breaths as he collided against the beasts. One of them slammed into his side, its jagged bone like claws tearing through. Kaelan grunted in agony, but he remained steadfast.

He glanced back at Maria.

She still knelt on the ledge. Still glowing and chanting. Pushing every drop of her powers to defeat the Aberrations throughout the city and healing any soul she could.

Maria placed her life, her faith, and trust in him. Kaelan couldn’t let himself fall. Not yet.

A burning heat erupted in his chest. He gritted his teeth through the blinding pain across his body and forced himself forward.

"I'm not... going anywhere!" Kaelan roared.

He fought the Aberrations with strength he never knew he could wield. But he understood; such a strength could only manifest when protecting. So that’s what he did.

The creatures staggered back, stalking behind Malakor but no longer pouncing forward. That's the best Kaelan could do. No matter how many times he struck them, they wouldn’t fall. But if it kept Maria safe, that’s all that mattered.

His legs wobbled behind a fading vision.

“Not yet…” he muttered through weakened breaths.

Malakor fumed and lunged forward himself with his blighted sword; his wild eyes locked on Maria.

Kaelan could no longer lift his daggers. But he didn’t need to.

He grabbed Malakor’s blade as it punctured through his chest, stopping it before it could reach Maria. He coughed up a pool of blood. For some reason, it didn’t hurt as much as he thought it would. He grinned through darkening eyes, but the fire in his chest turned cold.

Kaelan remained standing in front of Maria as an unbreakable shield. Her golden halo blazed like a newly born sun, just as her prayed chant came to a close.

She fluttered her eyes open.

“Welcome back.” Kaelan turned to her with a warm smile, blood dripping from the side of his mouth. “Did I buy you enough time?”

Kaelan wondered if she smiled back. His vision had gone. He collapsed into darkness before her response ever reached his fading hearing.