Chapter 120:

Year 2: The Heroes Descend - Chapter 10

The Children of Eris


When Lisa was five, she often dreamed of her wedding day.

After attending her older cousin Fran’s wedding, she yearned for the day when she’d get to wear a fine, white silk dress with a wreath of flowers in her hair.

She dreamt of the day when she too would look that beautiful, would look that happy, and dance with the man she loved.

Once, her mother caught her trying to fashion a dress out of an old worn bedsheet and even helped her make her first dress. It wasn’t white, for it would stain too easily in the village of Monk’s Wood, but Lisa loved it nonetheless.

“Mommy, when will I get married?”

Her mother laughed and stroked the top of her daughter’s head. “One day, when you’re older, you’ll meet someone, someone truly special to you. And that person will love you from the bottom of their heart, and you’ll love them the same.”

“Just like you and daddy?”

“Exactly.”

Her childhood dream had never truly left Lisa, but it had become secondary to finding the right gentleman to marry.

Curtis was that man - kind, sweet, handsome and strong, everything she had even wanted.

They were engaged and bid to be married in just a few months’ time, until the Holy Empire fell.

Until a brigade of skeleton soldiers surrounded their village with an undead mage, and proclaimed themselves servants of the Demon Emperor - their new lord and master.

Until the Decree of Loyalty was announced and her best friend Monika was snatched away from her husband.

***

The Decree of Loyalty had been Lady Mania’s idea.

Every month, on the first of the month, a convoy would arrive in every village and hamlet across the Demon Empire. Each village had to present all of its men and women between the ages of thirteen to fifty for the ‘Recruiters’ to inspect; these recruiters would then pick one man and woman from the lot to come with them to the Dread Keep.

The men would become part of the construction force in the castle-town, whilst the women would serve as maids at the Dread Keep itself.

If anyone in any village or hamlet across the empire even so much as dared to offer a helping hand to a rebel, then someone in the workforce at the Dread Keep would be brutally tortured and then executed, their bodies left to rot above the castle’s gates.

The day after the Demon Emperor announced the end of the One Hundred Days Plan, Mania sent out the first wave of convoys and took their first hostages - Monika and a young teenager called Ian had been taken from Monk’s Wood.

***

Lisa stood as her mother dressed her in fineries and her little sister of ten helped her.

Slowly, Lisa was wearing the beauty that she had long dreamt of, the sort of look she wanted to show Curtis on their wedding day in two months’ time.

They had dressed her in this exact same manner last month, just had all of the eligible women, but the recruiter had chosen Monika. Her husband, Bill, had protested and tried to stop them from taking her, but all he got was a sword to his shin.

Now, unable to work and leaning on drink, Bill spent most of his days limping on crutches between the tavern and his home.

“You look beautiful, Lisa.”

Her mother’s gentle voice and fragile smile broke Lisa’s heart.

“…Thank you.”

“Big sis.”

“What is it, Gwen?”

“It…It won’t be you, will it?”

“Gwen…”

“Of course, it won’t,” their mother assured them, patting the younger girl’s head. “My daughters might be the prettiest girls in Monk’s Wood, but that doesn’t mean that the big bad Demon Emperor would want girls with thin arms who couldn’t even milk a cow.”

Lisa chuckled despite herself, just before her fiancé Curtis came up behind her and placed the floral crown on her head.

“Wouldn’t want to break the rules,” he muttered.

“…No complements?” Lisa teased, trying to break the mood.

He quickly shook his head and then smiled as brightly as he could at Lisa. “You’re always pretty - today, you’re gorgeous.”

“You two, save that sort of stuff for when your married! Now…come along everyone. We can’t be late.”

***

Seven carriages arrived in the village square, flanked on each side by lines of armoured skeletons and a handful of Hysminai.

All of Monk’s Wood had gathered to greet them, though none could hide their anxieties or despair.

The elderly as well as the young children were gathered at the back, whilst the men and women of the specified age-range were standing in front, all dressed as they’d been instructed to.

The men were meant to showcase and highlight their physical strength; the women their physical beauty.

“A sick practice concocted by a sick tyrant!” Someone had described it last month, before he had been drawn and quartered for his loose tongue.

Even now, Lisa remembered his screams and the horrid sounds of flesh being torn apart.

Had Curtis not been by her side at night, she wouldn’t have been able to catch an ounce of sleep.

The carriages stopped, the undead and demons stood at attention, and then the carriage door opened.

However, the recruiter they had seen last time wasn’t present.

Instead of a sophisticated man in smart dress wear, there was a woman scantily clad with a whip and dagger at her hips, and black bat-like wings sprouting from her back.

“Lady Mania?!”

“W-what’s one of the Demon Emperor’s inner-circle doing here?!”

“Surely…no, there can’t be rebels here!”

The no-so quiet whispers behind her shook Lisa to her core. The young girls around her also panicked and a few even started to weep.

Whilst many had not seen the Demon Emperor’s closest aides in person, there were few who had not heard tales of them.

Abaddon the Oppressor - the blood-crazed general who burnt a city of half a million to the ground.

The Satyr Knight Hilda - the Demon Emperor’s chosen knight who once cut down twelve innocent men, women and children at once simply for standing in her master’s path.

Hermes Trismegistus - the mad wizard who breeds demonic beasts that the Demon Emperor’s soldiers ride into battle.

And, of course, there was Mania the Cruel - the Demon Emperor’s mistress who enjoyed inflicting punishing and forbidden torture upon others.

Why is she here? And why is she so angry?

“People of Monk’s Wood,” the succubus began, her viciousness dripping off her every syllable. “Once, you made certain mistakes in regards to today’s ceremony. That was forgivable and my people believed that you’d learnt from your mistakes. However!” Mania stamped her heel into the stone path so hard it splintered it cracked in two. “Some of you, it seems, still need to learn what authority you answer to.

“Machai, bring them here.”

The large demons grunted, opened the second carriage, and pulled four hooded figures from the back. Their hands were bound tightly with rope and there was blood splattered on their skin and clothes.

“These four women!” The bags were ripped off to reveal half-beaten faces beneath them. “Tried to flee last night, as they desperately tried to avoid being selected for this month’s Decree of Loyalty. Some of you even helped them. Some of you even ran off with them.” Mania licked her lips and smiled. “Some of you died protecting them!”

Two more bodies were brought out from the carriage, eliciting ear-piercing screams from some unfortunate parents behind Lisa.

“Tyve?!”

“Ewan?! Ewan!”

Mania laughed quietly to herself as the mutilated corpses of two young men were thrown onto the dirt before the people of Monk’s Wood. Their injuries were so horrific that almost half the village began vomiting or cursing out at Mania.

A few, the men’s friends and family, tried to lash out at the Demon Emperor’s forces, but were held back by other villagers.

“These idiots resisted my people’s orders to surrender; they insisted on fighting and even trying to wound those who serve the great Demon Emperor. This was treason of the highest order and grounds for having the two villagers you sent us last month gutted and hung from the gallows!”

The cries slowly started to die down, as only a few soft whimpers and groans remained from the men’s parents.

“In fact, it might still do.” The skeletons, armed with heavy spears and shields, aimed their mighty weapons at the villagers, causing quite a commotion among the crowd. “Silence! I know for a fact that there are three women hiding themselves right now inside Monk’s Wood itself. We know where they are and we could go and drag them out, but…that’s just not good enough. No, no, no.”

Mania loudly cleared her throat, then cried, “If you do not come out in two minutes, everyone in Monk’s Wood will be put to death, then we’ll drag you out of hiding and take you three back to the Dread Keep to spend the rest of your days in chains!”

“What?!”

“You can’t-!”

“No! No!”

“I don’t want to die; I don’t want to die!”

“Please, someone, help us!”

“O Great Themis, hear my prayer!”

“Big sis!”

Lisa wanted to run back and hold Gwen, her mum and Curtis so much, but she was too scared.

There was a spear aimed right at her face held by a skeleton less than a foot away.

All it would take for that skeleton to end her life is a single thrust and then she’d never see her loved ones again.

Before she’d realised it, all three girls had come out of hiding, dressed in plain brown clothes - they hadn’t even considered obeying the Decree of Loyalty.

“Had you been three seconds later, you would’ve wished you’d never been born,” Mania said. “Bring them.”

Five Machai marched over to the three who’d tried to hide and forcefully pulled them towards Mania. There was more screaming and shouting, but it was quickly silenced by the shrieks of the skeletons and the threat of their weapons. All three were brought before Mania who, after inspecting them closely, smiled and said, “Bind their hands and put them with the other four.”

They didn’t resist as the demons bound their hands.

“Poppy!”

“Wendy!”

“Stacy! Please, don’t hurt my daughter!”

Mania let out a loud, irritated laugh. “‘Don’t hurt my daughter’?! After you lot almost got everyone in this village killed, you have the audacity to say that?” The succubus laughed louder this time. “What a joke. Still.” Mania lost her cheer as a nasty glint appeared in her eyes. “The people of Monk’s Wood really haven’t learnt their lesson. So, we’re going to make this a special occasion.”

She raised both her arms high into the air, then brought them down halfway between the men and women’s lines. “We’ll take half of each, this time. Everyone on the left-hand side of my arm will be coming with me to the Dread Keep. Take them.”

The skeletons moved in formation, driving the crowd of distraught and angry villagers away, whilst the Machai went to the exact points in each line where Mania had indicated and started dragging them towards the carriages.

The women’s line screamed and begged for mercy, some even on their knees, and a few even grasped at those from the half that hadn’t been picked, asking to switch places with them.

Unfortunately for Lisa, she was the last person on the left-hand side of the line.

Had she been one place over, she would’ve been safe.

…Why?

Why does this…?

“Big sis?!”

“Lisa! Lisa!”

She didn’t even notice that a Machai had grabbed her arm and started pulling her towards the carriages.

Themis, why - why have you abandoned us?

The men tried to put up a fight, some thirty of them even tried punching and kicking the Machai, but they quickly regretted their choices.

Bones were broken, men fell to the ground unconscious from a single strike to the face, and others were sliced at by the Machai’s foul blades. Blood was spilt and a riot almost broke out, until Mania unleashed her whip.

With a single strike, twenty men yelled out in agony as the tendons on their heels were severed. They collapsed onto the mud and stone, allowing the Machai to beat them senselessly until they all stopped moving.

“Monk’s Wood - you have one, last chance. One final chance to prove yourselves loyal servants of the Demon Emperor,” Mania spoke slowly . “Next month, when my colleagues return to collect your tributes for the Decree of Loyalty, I shall give them this instruction. If there is any resistance of any kind, you have my permission to raise this village to the ground and butcher its people.

“Likewise, to all of you lovely ladies and gentlemen coming with me today, know this. If any one of you fails at your duties or tries to join a rebellion of any kind, I shall bring you back here, only so that you can witness your homes burning as your friends and families beg for a quick death.

“Is that understood?”

Their stunned silence was all she needed to hear.

“Good. Tie their hands and feet, then get them loaded up. We’re heading right back to the Dread Keep.”

“Big sis!”

“Lisa, Lisa!”

“Lisa!”

Lisa looked weakly over at the crowd as she was carried away by the Machai.

She tried to smile at them, but her emotions overwhelmed her - rivers poured from her eyes as she desperately reached out to them, even knowing how futile it was.

It’s…over.

It’s all…over.

Monk’s Wood - once a place full of faith, joy and gratitude towards the Holy Goddess Themis was now a place of misery and hopelessness.