Interlude 4

Night had come to Oso-ko and the Demon Emperor’s forces were nowhere to be seen.

The remnants of the Demon Fleet had fled east, though few ships made the journey home. The Scarlett Skulls were all but decimated, Charledd Kraken’s-bane had escaped and Kayleigh’s team had been defeated quite decisively at the hands of one of the Demon Emperor’s generals.

While life in the city continued as normal, each of Kayleigh’s team spent the evening alone, contemplating the day’s events in their own way.

Trevor Newlin spent the time alone, in his bedroom, beneath his covers trying to fall asleep.

However.

The flashes of the battles, of the start of the war, of the overwhelming power of Fenrir, flew through his mind.

He’d blinked and she’d defeated him.

Trevor remembered the smell of iron, blood and death, and the screams of the dying.

No matter how tightly he closed his eyes or how he covered his ears, he couldn’t block them out.

All he could do was suffer, alone.

In a panic, he leapt out of bed and went into the ensuite bathroom, throwing cold water over his face to calm himself down.

Sadly, as his depressing reflection revealed, it hadn’t worked.

All Trevor saw was the sunken red-eyes of a teenager staring back at him.

Bitterly, he laughed at himself and bit his lip.

Will I really ever get used to this?

***

The tavern was alive with sounds of euphoria and cheer, as the bards and musicians played and sung.

No matter where you looked, you could see people sharing in one another’s merriment, dancing, singing, drinking and talking like there had never been an invasion earlier that day.

Gabriel, sitting alone at the bar, smiled happily as he sipped the most expensive wine that the tavern had to offer.

“Barkeep.” Gabriel clicked his fingers and pushed more money across the table. “Bring me the bottle.”

“As you wish.”

The gruff man returned a moment later with the half-empty bottle. Happily, Gabriel took it and started drinking right from the bottle.

“Careful, lad. Hero or not, that stuff will mess you up real good.”

Gabriel paused and then grinned. “My fine friend, there’s no alcohol in this world, or any other, that can affect me.”

“…If you say so.”

The man left Gabriel alone, which the hero was grateful for.

I’m here to chat with cute women, not old men, Gabriel sneered, turning his lustful eyes towards two blonde maidens sitting further alone the bar. Ah, yes, what beautiful goddesses they have in Oso-ko. Truly, today must be my lucky day.

Gabriel started to straighten out his clothes and armour, before he stopped himself all so suddenly.

“Leave her alone.”

Ewan’s cold words resurfaced in his mind.

Gabriel had, not too long ago, been making advances on Elysa who had sternly said she liked women. Even then, Gabriel had ignored her and continued to pester her, flirted with her, all in the hopes of winning her favour.

It was something he’d done time and time again, and he didn’t see why it wouldn’t work this time.

Even now, as he looked at the two blonde Aangapean women, Gabriel wanted to get up and talk to them.

Yet he remained glued to his seat.

With his head lowered, Gabriel returned to sucking on the wine bottle and, once it was empty, he ordered another.

***

“Meow.”

The cat meowed back to Fala’s imitation, making the young hero smile. Softly, she pet its head and scratched behind its ears, eliciting many purrs from the small feline.

“Good boy,” Fala said as the cat drew closer to her crossed legs. It rubbed itself against her leg as she continued to pet it. “What are you doing out so late?”

The cat, of course, didn’t answer, but Fala continued to talk to it anyway.

“Do you have a family? Do you have a home? Do you…” She stopped herself, before gently picking it up with her hands. The cat wasn’t surprised or scared by Fala’s actions and relaxed in her grasp. “Do you have someone you love?

“Do you have a sister?” Fala stopped herself, before touching the cat’s forehead with her own. “I need to get a cat.”

***

In the manor house’s empty garden, Elysa danced beneath the moonlight alone, imitating a ballroom dance at times.

Slowly, she moved her body across the grass, skipping and jumping as she pleased, a peaceful smile on her lips. She moved elegantly to the beat of a silent song, though no one was there to observe her movements.

Even after everything that had happened during the day, Elysa was in a good mood.

The night was calm, the air was crisp and refreshing, and the subtle scent of exotic flowers and roses tickled her nose.

Elysa still felt some pain from where Fenrir had struck her, even after it’d been healed with magic, but still the hero smiled.

***

Again.

Thrust left, swipe right, block. Take one step back, push enemy back, sweep at legs and go for the kill.

Ewan paused, Gungnir thrusted out before him and exhaled. Then, he shifted his body again and took up a new stance, one with his Divine Artifact in one hand and the other left free.

“Lunge, withdraw, slice, stab, repeat,” he muttered, going through the motions as he spoke. However, his movements this time were much stiffer. “How is this meant to help me in a fight at all?”

Despite how unusual parts of his daily training regime appeared to be, Ewan performed them all to the letter per his instructor’s orders.

While none of the instructors had ignored the needs of their students, Dante had taken particular interest in Ewan and Gungnir.

“You have the right aptitude for it.”

“For what?” Ewan asked.

Dante grinned. “Inheriting the Arts of the Order.”

Dante expects great things from me, Ewan told himself as he started trying to visualise the Arts techniques that Dante had shown him. However, he couldn’t quite get the energy to gather as he needed it to.

Images flashed through his mind.

Of the conversation he had with Gabriel, of the déjà vu he felt seeing Elysa’s disgust at Gab’s comments, of a life he couldn’t recall.

There were uniforms and suits, and hundreds, maybe thousands, of blurred faces. He could see bright green colours and black hair, but he couldn’t see more than that. Even though he could see it, he could feel it.

A disgust welling up from within.

When he snapped out of it, the Arts he’d been forming around his wrist had dissipated and Gungnir had slipped from his grasp.

Maybe…that’s enough, for one night.

***

“Nothing,” Kayleigh said as she shut another heavy tome.

It had been many hours since she’d woken up after Fenrir’s knockout blow, but she hadn’t stopped to rest for even a moment. Before her teammates could even ask if she was okay, Kayleigh had shot off into the city to look for a library or a bookshop.

Then, she’d spent the rest of the day going from store to store, looking for books on Aangapea’s myths, legends and histories; then, after she’d exhausted those, Kayleigh went to the Oso-ko library and began digging through their texts.

Yet, her search bore no fruit.

There’s not a single mention of Fenrir or a creature like Fenrir in any of these, Kayleigh thought.

Fenrir - the Wolf of the End, the great beast from Norse mythology that came with Ragnarök, the end of the world. I’d say it was almost fitting if I wasn’t on this side of the war. She was strong, and fast, but human? No, that’s not right - there was definitely the image of a great wolf before she attacked us, but then why did she transform?

Is she unable to maintain that form for long, or was it just better suited for the warehouse space? She didn’t kill us even though she definitely could have, so I have to wonder why she spared us. Maybe her human form is weaker than the wolf one - if that’s the case, then we’re still really not ready to fight the Demon Emperor properly.

We can handle his foot soldiers and lower lieutenants, but that could just be what he wants us to think. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Demon Emperor was attempting to instil within us a false sense of security just so that we would be easy pickings.

But. Kayleigh frowned. Fenrir didn’t kill us. She let us live.

Why?

And how can Fenrir exist in this world if there’s no reference to anything like her in any of these books? Maybe the libraries back at Rhodes have some information on her, but it’s very concerning that a mythical, all-powerful beast like her even exists in Aangapea. If the Demon Emperor has Fenrir at his service, does that mean he has others like her from Earth here?

“Who are you really, Demon Emperor?”