

-A Shroud of Ages Novel-

-The Demon Conquests Series-

-Book 1-

-From the Flames of Extinction-

-By R.M. Plaiscia-

The Shroud of Ages

The Demon Conquests

From The Flames Of Extinction

Copyright 2012 – 2019 Ronald M. Plaiscia Jr.

Published by Ronald M. Plaiscia Jr. at Smashwords

The right of Ronald M. Plaiscia Jr. to be identified as author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

-All Rights Reserved-

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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_Table of Contents_

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**Part One **_\- A Place to Begin_

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**Part Two **_\- In The Middle of Madness_

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**Part Three **_\- To End All Doubt_

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**About the Author** _/Other Works_

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The Hurricane Journals _(_Sneak Peek _)_

#

Witch-ionary I

Basic Witch Terminology

_Willborn_ – Young Witch, born of sheer will; lack of foresight.

_Foreborn_ – Elder Witch, able to overcome their own will; dependent on foresight.

_Foolheart_ – Young Warlock, ignorant to most magic; playful, void of testosterone.

_Warwalker_ – Elder Warlock, having become one with the battlefield; flooded with testosterone.

_Brightling_ – A Warlock who has embraced the art of wizardry instead of war; flushed clean of testosterone.

_Kindlefell_ – Young Wizard, not yet skilled in the arts of wizardry, like kindle for a fire that is not yet lit.

_Wakenwide_ – Elder Wizard, awakened to the magical arts of wizardry.

_Arken_ – The Native Witch's term for Vampire, believed to be their ancient creators.

_Terra_ – Used both as a witch description for Earth, and to describe the magical energy they can create and wield.

_Hylum_ – An ancient type of wood carved to create wizard staffs.

_Frening/Draking/Draker_ – Not as versatile as the human variation of the F-word, but each are still used to promote emphasis, or to express anger, annoyance, contempt, or surprise.

_Skagt'ah_ – Ancient Demon slang, used to express hatred or insult towards another; the equivalent of a "F**k you" and a "Suck it" in modern English slang, all rolled into one.

# (Part 1)

# (A Place to Begin)

It was over seven million years ago when a particular lineage of ape first descended from the trees. From the lush lands of Africa's mighty savannahs this singular lineage of ape would ultimately go on to spread themselves across the entire globe. These apes that would move on to conquer the world were none other than the species known as Homo Sapiens. They weren't the first Homo race to stand upright or start fires or bury their dead and weren't even present when their species first began to evolve. That all started long before, maybe with one simple step, probably a few falls. But in time those steps became more natural and in the long run led to a great leap in their evolution, a mass migration out of Africa, and that Homo race soon began to evolve into something much more than just a simple animal.

When once there had been multiple off-shoots and half-breeds, soon there would be only one. This sole survivor of Homo evolution was the class of Sapien, or the 'Wise Man', as other intelligent species would refer to them, and as minds expanded and intelligence grew, they became the race known as Mankind. But these intelligent apes didn't arise in a world where they were allowed to carve out their own path unabated. No, not at all.

Planet Earth back then, about eighty to ninety thousand years ago, served as a battlefield plagued by mythical war. With the sapiens not yet molded into conquerors as they spread out of Africa, the genus of Erectus had only recently become extinct. Up north in the lands of modern day Europe and Russia, it was the races of Neanderthal and Denisovan respectively sharing the snow, while the species known as Wicca Urth ruled the land. That's because these ever evolving races of ape always found themselves overshadowed by the warring clans of two species that had evolved on this Earth long before Humankind, or any other Homo offshoot, for that matter. And these two long evolved species would wage their war for control of the Earth, and sole dominion over these still evolving Hominid species.

One was an ancient form of predator species believed to be long extinct. _'Locked away within the very fury they'd created'_ , according to ancient texts. That was the all so destructive race of Demonkind. The other was a much younger species in the eyes of time, one sent forth from the heavens long ago to protect all of Terra, or what most would call Earth, and they were the still evolving race of Wicca Urth Dawnicus, better known as witches.

Both had separate views of the apes... the demons wanting to wipe them out and the witches simply wishing to enslave them – for their own protection, of course. But neither gave any true care for what these early humans actually wished to make of themselves.

It wasn't that they weren't strong enough to do anything about their situation, no. But because of their lowered level of intelligence, still far too violent for multiple groups to coexist, regarded as 'easily gathered' and showing no signs of even being able to form a mass resistance, these evolved apes were viewed as an ideal slave race. Because of this, the young species of apes got caught in the middle of an ancient conflict long thought to have come to an end. History says that Witchkind had already defeated the demons, once long ago – _'wiped from the face of existence'_ , as the ancient texts tell it. But these monsters had returned, awakening the sole defenders of the Earth once again.

The witches had only one purpose in life, a sole mission, and that was to protect the Earth, their Terra, at all costs. The demons, however, wished to drain the Earth of all its lifeblood in order to build their old empire anew. That's why these witches could not stand for such conceit, such blatant disregard for the order of life. They would not allow any one species to dictate the laws of nature. Those laws remained in place for a reason, and the witches sought to keep the laws as such. And as the demons reemerged from the flames of extinction, the witches found themselves forced to rise up in the defense of their Terra once again, all in the name of peace.

* * *

Before we begin, just to make things clear, witches age in quite a different way than humans. So instead of jumping right in, I feel it only right to first explain the aging process and add a bit of detail to these not-so-fairy-tale creatures.

The witch will go through childhood much faster than a human, reaching youth-hood after only two or three human years. But once a witch reaches this 'youth-hood', that aging process slows dramatically. This is an evolutionary process known as Wicca-Anthro-Vos that the ancient witches made sure to set in place by training all the youth to wield magic at very young ages.

So while a human would measure his or her lifespan in years, the life of a witch can only be measured in millennia. And despite their striking similarities to modern day humans, witches are more closely related to the trees than the apes which climb within them. Witchkind's life-energy is linked directly to the Earth itself, Terra as they call her... the eternal mother. And as legend tells it, Witchkind had been provided life for the sole purpose of protecting her. Now I could go on explaining about those first few years of Witchkind's existence – back when they were mere pawns upon a battlefield – but that was a time when Demons and Angels and Titans and Gods still walked the Earth.

So to make a long story short, the Demon Race found themselves banished long ago from the physical realm. Yet the exact method of demise set forth by those witches of old never revealed itself in any of their ancient texts. This led many to believe this to be a spell so dangerous, meant to be so definitive, that no trace of its use was ever allowed to even pass onto the next generation.

No one knew for certain the truth of how that first conflict ended, none except those actually present when the demon's banishment took place, of which there was no one left alive... at least none that were supposed to be. It had been many millennia, and the witches had been a young species then, but prevailed nonetheless. Yet ever since that time, despite the seemingly never-ending conflicts with the Vampire Race and the constant plagues of Sorcery, the Elders had deemed the Earth to be at peace. But that peace, as it so often does, would only last for too short a time.

Not only had the demons returned, but the most innocent of dangers was growing alongside the witches at this point in time, with the witches completely unknowing of the true horror that this still evolving race of sapiens would bring. But soon, all of those apes would have to fend for themselves, leaving the witches to face an all too familiar yet oh so forgotten threat.

The witches never knew it at the time, but this invasion all began with a young magus, better known as a summoner, a race nearly extinct. His name was Anyus, and he had not yet grown into his powers, having only recently learned of his ability to summon objects from the thin air. So one night, in a fit of rage after a horde of vampires had pillaged his village, alas, abracadabra style, the young magus summoned a demon by complete accident. Anyus found himself frozen with shock as this mythical beast stood before him, grinning as it began to laugh. That's when Anyus found out that this was not just any demon he had summoned. No, he had summoned the Lord of the Demons himself, known only as Claiborne.

Now, this Demon Lord Claiborne stood as the most evil creation next to the King of Ragnarok, having done most of the unspeakable things often blamed on the king. And once Lord Claiborne had his feet upon the Earth's soil once more, breathing in that all so disgusting carbon dioxide, the greedy beast went right to work gathering what were known as the Elysian Stones. Now these stones stood as no more than a mystery to most, with their true powers left hidden away by the fearful legend attached to them. That was because the only words attached to the stones told of their ability to destroy the whole of existence.

Ragnarok, the witches called it.

The term didn't exist before the first demon conquest, but no doubt became feared ever since. The _'end of the end'_ , as the ancient texts told it, _'when the light and the dark align as one, birthing the death of all life'_ , whatever in fury that means. But this also stood for what the demons sought to bring about, and because of that, these words became forever connected to the Elysian Stone legend.

This legend stopped most from even trying to use the stones, and for any bold enough to ignore the legend there always remained a fearful soul or two there to stop them. But Claiborne sought these Elysian Stones out right away, as if he knew exactly what he had to do. The Demon Lord hoped to bring back his army from whatever fate the witches left them to all those millennia ago and bring about Ragnarok all by himself, indeed fulfilling the prophecy of the stones.

The result that came was something no one could anticipate.

Witches all across Terra were trying to make peace with the various ape races of the time, going about their daily lives with nothing at all to fear. Together, these races had finished ridding the land of Afrusha of all beasts deemed evil. The witches had left most of those Beast Purges to the hands of the sapiens, using these evolved apes as their own personal weapons of mass destruction. It was an experiment set forth by the High Elders of Witchkind to see how well this highly evolved ape race would serve them on the battlefield. The results, however, despite their success, only revealed how difficult the sapiens were to control. Also, after ending their last conflict with the vampires, the witches hadn't seen or heard from the tyrannical race in many thousands of years. So, because of all this, they felt as if they had at last saved Terra from all negative forces.

Thus, most witches had already spread across Terra as they knew it – through the eastern continents of Asia, Africa and Europe – and created kingdoms alongside these early humans. The Elders, meanwhile, those who had taken on the responsibility of coordinating the future of an entire race, they rebuilt a massive castle near the north-eastern edge of the continent of Africa for them all to remain. While the rest of their kind spread out freely across the continents of Asia and Europe, these Elders remained to hold claim over what they considered the most sacred place in all of Terra.

Back then the witches knew Africa as Afrusha, which translated in ancient Wiccan to mean "The Birthplace". This was because of the massive storms birthed off the coast, as well as the ape race of Man that had been evolving there for the last seven million years. Not only that, but there were also studies going on to find out if witches may have been birthed into creation somewhere on the continent. The truth of their origins had become a driving force behind many brilliant minds, and it could have played a part in why they chose its north-west cradle as the location to build their race anew.

The Elders had taken an old castle fortress left behind by some extinct race, redesigned it and turned it into Elder Castle. Built in the middle of one of the densest forests around, their beacon of hope was positioned along the northern tip of the unforgivable land of the current day desert known as the Sahara. A tremendous wall surrounded what essentially stood as a small city, with only one single gate to regulate all that entered and exited. The wall was enough to look at, but the castle itself loomed as quite a tremendous sight. Four large towers hung high above to mark the corners, with a point in the center, half as tall, poking up to peek out at the surrounding street below.

All of Witchkind felt safe for the first time in centuries, and most had nothing better to do than make sure that these early sapiens were learning how to treat the Earth in the proper way. Everything seemed perfect, maybe too perfect, with the entire world at peace... and that created a perfect time for everything to fall apart.

And that leads us to the focus of our journey back through time: the witches.

Our tale begins with a young wizard by the name of Palmisano – born of the clan Stonehaven, city of Stonehedge. He was over a half-million years of age – or as a witch would put it, about five-hundred ages. Each 'age' for Witchkind was the equivalent of approximately one 'human year', and they could live for easily a few thousand of them. His father died during a raid by a horde of sorcerers, serving as the first victim of what would turn into quite a horrible conflict. Nearly two weeks after that was when two Elders arrived – Arabi and Katrina – to take control of their struggle with the sorcerers, and that's when this young wizard found his calling. His mother had raised him as best she could until he was old enough to join the elder's version of a military – the Protectors of Terra. There the kindlefell would defend his home until he'd made a safe enough world for him to follow his heart away from it.

He had been up in the northern reaches of current day Asia at the time of the demon's second rise, helping a small tribe of Denisovan build a new village in the proper way. He understood that this Earth, his Terra, would always provide what it took to survive... air, food, water... and in exchange for these things everyone must in turn give back to Terra and help her survive. The wizard was in the process of teaching these mortals the ways of the world, as witches all over were doing the same, when the Elders sent out their 'mental call' for all Protectors of Terra to report to Elder Castle right away.

The Elders had formed these 'Protectors of Terra' not long after the witch's last war. Their creation was a way to bring together all those that were willing to stand up in defense of Witchkind, despite their respective brood's affiliation. It was all a very new process – created by two of the younger Elders, Arabi and Katrina – and turned out to be quite a strange one. Even though the witches projected themselves as one firmly bonded race, in reality they traditionally found themselves split into many extremely separated broods and clans, with several that simply despised each other. But now those very same factions had come together trying to compensate for all their past failures.

So these Protectors of Terra soon became a collection of all the most powerful fighters of Witchkind, a group of over thirty-thousand strong. These fighters had defended the Earth several times already from very different foes, but never in such a coordinated effort. This was the first time that all these fighters were to assemble together in one place.

Palmisano hadn't expecting such a call at such a peaceful time, but the voice bouncing around his brain sounded quite serious, and he expected that everyone would summoned together for nothing but a very good reason. The kindlefell walked over to his old friend Corrine, a witch he'd known for most of his life – the one he'd left home for – and told her that a call from the Elders was received. The witch had always recognized how great of a fighter Palmisano was, and that the arrival of this day was nothing but inevitable. And though she did not expect such a day to come so soon, she understood how important it must have been, and bid her should-be-lover farewell. She would miss him more than he would ever know.

After their lips parted for the first time, the young Palmisano strapped his staff across his back with a new swagger to his step, with Corrine making sure its hold was nice and tight as her fingers slipped from around his shoulder. Palmisano then walked off into the wooded area away from the growing city and gave her one last glance before closing his eyes. This was just as thousands of other witches, wizards and warlocks were doing the same all across the three continents at that precise time. He trusted that Corrine would teach the mortals well while he was away. He had no doubt in that. He knew that she didn't want to treat the apes as the slaves they'd become. Instead, she would treat them as equals, understanding that this world was meant to be shared, not conquered.

Not all young witches thought in that way, which was why Palmisano thought so much of her. He only hoped that he would return to her swiftly, without any trouble. He too would miss her incredibly. But due to the circumstances that dragged the wizard away, his longing would forcibly give way to his will to survive. This would not be a battle, but a war. And forever altered would his path now be.

When Palmisano's eyes opened back up, he found himself within a large room still filling with witches, appearing all around him every other second or so. Even though not all of these witches possessed the ability of teleportation, there was something about this castle that allowed them all the ability to teleport – or 'blink' – inside of it, and it alone. He looked around, trying to get a feel for it all, with this being his first trip inside the legendary Elder Castle.

Right away, he figured the room had to be some sort of meeting chamber because of its sheer size. It was circular, with stone-gray walls at least a hundred feet tall and lined with burning torches. The room rounded a large center piece, with at least forty feet separating it from the walls. At that center he saw a tall set of stairs, beginning as a narrow sliver before widening as the staircase led up to two large doors. And above those doors he noticed a central balcony where it seemed like more witches were gathering. Those witches, he suspected, had to be the Elders. The balcony wrapped around itself, laced with stone carved tree vines for decoration, stretched out in a semi-circle, serving as a banister. The large stone wall at the top stood carved into a thick tree trunk, with branches of stone that reached up maybe sixty-feet above the floor.

It truly was magnificent.

The room began to get a bit overcrowded, with all the witches gathering towards the center, near the steps. Others, though, like Palmisano, remained closer to the rear wall, waiting with the utmost patience for whatever this was to get started. All of them wound up being pushed to the back of what was beginning to form into a wide line of body mass. But Palmisano just laughed and leaned against the wall, not in any rush to move anything along at all. Then, after enough time had passed without another witch blinking in, it seemed as if everyone may have arrived. The witches on the balcony stood up, one of them walking over to the edge, his long beard hanging down over the railing.

It was Arabi, a wizard of ancient times who possessed more power than any witch alive. He and Katrina were in complete control of everything about the Protectors, and it was Arabi who commanded of all the witches within their ranks. He also stood as one of the seventeen High Elders of Terra, charged with the protection of life itself.

The wizard sighed deeply, looking down while placing his hands on the railing as his voice echoed down to his fellow witches. "I regret having to call you all here today, on such short notice and urgent circumstances, but a great force of evil once again threatens our Terra, and dearly needed is your attention, your focus, and all your might." Arabi explained from his perch, pausing for a short moment before continuing. "To make a long story short, the demons have returned. We have yet to learn how, but they have already taken several coastal settlements. We earned no advanced knowledge about this until it was too late, but already we have lost several critical locations, all wiped out – both in the jungles of the south and even to the farthest reaches of the mountains in the east - all beginning about two years ago. A few survivors are all that managed to escape, and they got word to us only recently, most giving their lives to give us this information. So truth be told... we are lucky to even learn of it at all."

After a short sigh of what may have been regret, the elder continued. "But now we know that the Demon Empire has had more than enough time to spread across the Birthplace and begin their crusades against all living things once more. These monsters will kill witches and mortals alike, burning down entire villages and forests as they do. They will seek to drain Terra of her oxygen and set her oceans ablaze, just as they have tried before. Ragnarok follows their every footstep. And we are all that stand in the way of their success. Now, though I regret having to tell you that this war will no doubt put your lives on hold until this threat is ceased, the truth is... I'm glad they're frening back!"

The elder wizard slammed his wooden staff upon the stone floor. "The demon army is like none other you will ever face. They are more than capable of taking over this world. But Witchkind will not our Terra to be deleted. Death may seem a much simpler option. Victory, though, is the only way out. Now... before I say anymore, you must all understand that whatever lives you left behind before coming here may not be there when you return... if, that is, you do indeed return at all. I wish you all the best of luck in this war and thank you all for risking your lives on behalf of our race. But I will now step down and allow War Composer Floridia to explain the details... and again, sincerely, much gratitude." Arabi waved as he stepped away from the banister and the large figure of War Composer Dubouchel de'Floridia took his place.

"Foreborns and Warwalkers! Foolhearts, Willborns and Wakenwides! Everyone, from the farthest reaches of the north to the nearest forests of the south, hear my voice!" Floridia called out, his words echoing off the walls. "From this moment forward, we are all one and the same, regardless of whatever rank you may have held before, or whatever clan your kinship may lie. You are all family now, to live and to die for one another. Some of you will lead while others follow, but all will work together in the efforts to rid our Terra of these disgusting vermin once again. You will all be a part of our victory, as we wipe the Demon Race from the face of existence, once and forever more!!" The old wizard began to pace along the balcony, keeping his hand on the banister.

"All of you understand what war is... what death is. And all of you know that in times such as this, death becomes our only chance at life! Many of us will have to sacrifice our lives in order for others to live on. We never get advance notice of who those unlucky souls might be until death is too close to avoid, and the only way for one to live is for someone else to die. That is why, no matter if you lead or if you follow, we are nothing but the same in this conflict. Because each one of us should willingly surrender our lives for the whole of our race to survive! The only difference between us is that only the luckiest and only the most skilled... will follow me." He seemed to gloat as he laughed out loud.

Most of the Elders shook their heads behind him, while some found humor in his arrogance. But they all knew he was the best they had.

"So with that, I will waste your time no longer." The War Composer happily stopped laughing at himself. "I have sent a colored ball to each of your feet. Pick it up and go to the colored torch that corresponds with your ball. Beneath that flame you will find your new family."

All at once, as the bottom of the central pillar slid up a few inches, thousands of balls began rolling out. And as all the balls began making their way to everyone's feet, being drawn by the electro-magnetic pull of each specific witch, the flames of the torches above began to change color. Everyone was bending over and picking up their ball to see what color they'd received. Palmisano did the same and picked up a pale green ball, holding it in his hand as Floridia kept talking.

"You will find the coordinates of your destinations by your flames, and if your ball begins to flash when you arrive at your torch, good for you, you are skilled enough to have been chosen as the Lord of your team." The War Composer spoke rather nonchalantly until he mentioned his team. "And most importantly, anyone holding a black ball may enter through the doors opening beneath me. You are my personal army. Now, before we leave these walls, I do hope to see everyone back within them after this is all over, as we celebrate our victory. May the fates grace our every step upon the battlefield!"

Composer Floridia then turned and disappeared from view while everyone began going to their respective flames, treating it all like a game, all of them hoping their balls would begin to flash. But Palmisano wished nothing more than to fall quietly into the background of whatever group he got stuck with and simply stay alive. The wizard did not want to be anywhere close to any kind of leadership position at all. As he glanced around, he found a green flame right beside him. While walking over to it, his ball did not start to flash, bringing him a slight sense of relief.

Palmisano was the first to arrive at the green torch, and he looked at the sheet of cloth hanging from the wall to find out where he would be going. His eyes widened with surprise as he thought he must have been seeing things and had to look again just to make sure he wasn't.

"That is impossible." He grumbled to himself, thinking it had to be a mistake. He thought if anyone, it would be the Composer who would be protecting this particular land. But as he stared at it, he realized that it was no mistake. He was going to be protecting the land known as The Halflands.

Once a stronghold for one of the most diabolical wizards of all time, Bellborn the Tyrant, it had since been revived as one of the more diverse populations in all the Birthplace. Bordering the region of the vicious Skullking clan, it consisted of two of the most peaceful clans of witch – the last surviving tribe of Articets, and a secretive group known only as 'The Avlon'. These witches were the first to free their ape-slaves, becoming the first land in all of Terra where the two species, both Homo and Wicca, were able to coexist together in peace. It was a land shrouded in mystery, covered in controversy, and one that the young wizard couldn't help but worry about. The land itself stood as only a target for the demons to take, and with it they could control the entire lower continent.

His head shook with regret as he turned away from the sheet and almost bumped into a warlock, one with a long gray cloak stretching down to his feet. This warlock kept both hands inside two long sleeves as he had his arms crossed in front of his chest, with a large hood hiding his face. The warlock startled Palmisano until realizing that this must be the first member of his 'new family'.

After an awkward moment passed, the young wizard extended his hand towards the warlock. "So, uh... hey... I'm Palmisano," he introduced himself, "Pleasure to meet you."

The unknown warlock, though, merely turned his shrouded head towards Palmisano, the heavy hood bending down just barely enough to glimpse awkwardly at his hand, his face still hidden, and then turned back away.

"Alright... so I guess the pleasure's all mine." Palmisano stated with sarcasm as he pulled his hand back to his side. "I hope everyone on this team is as polite as you."

"I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you," a grungy voice came from behind.

Palmisano turned to see another warlock walking around to the first warlock's side. This warlock was shorter than the first, wearing the same type of long cloak, his a dark maroon, but his hood hung back as to not hide his face. Instead his long black hair hung down to hide his eyes until he brushed it away.

This new warlock placed a hand upon the first warlock's shoulder, "Dogru, here, is one of a kind." He introduced the first warlock that stood as still as a statue next to him. "He is a killer that cares less for speech and more about blood staining his knuckles. As long as you are on his side, I am sure you will grow to love him."

Palmisano looked on with curiosity at this new warlock, "Indeed. And you are...?"

"The name is Marigny," the second warlock introduced himself with an odd smile, "And the pleasure is all mine."

Palmisano smiled back as he noticed a much larger figure approaching from behind them. He could sense right away that this was a very powerful wizard and guessed correctly that he had to be their leader, even before the green ball in his hand began to blink. Marigny held a wide grin of satisfaction as he turned to greet this taller wizard approaching from behind.

"Orleans, you decided to join me again. Something told me the fools would bring us back together."

It shocked Palmisano to hear that Marigny not only knew the silent warlock but also this powerful wizard. _'Who in fury is this guy?'_ Palmisano thought to himself as others began to gather beneath the green flame. As they did, Marigny greeted each one in turn – Chargon, Evette, Relayna, Tegan, Hani, Yani, Boyle, Shaydince – and all the others that never made it through the ever-growing crowd to find the tiring hand of Palmisano.

After it seemed that everyone was finished teaming up, with not many more witches walking around the room, the large figure of Orleans gathered everyone around. There were well over two hundred witches in his group alone, so the old wizard had to make sure his voice held a bit of boom.

"I can see that many of us have already met, fought beside each other in past battles, and that may be the exact reason the fates have put us together on this day. But I also see some new faces." Orleans looked on at the group of witches with a sense of honor instead of urgency. "I know that you all heard the conceited words of our 'great' War Composer, but I want you all to recognize something else. This is something those who have served under me before already understand. Firstly, I am not him. Secondly, and more importantly, I am a fighter no different from any of you. I will not only lead you into battle... I will fight alongside you. I am here to make sure all of you make it back to your homes safely, back to your lives, and I intend to do nothing less that. I have never before lost a fellow warrior in battle. And that is not a lie or an exaggeration. That is why this team was handed one of the most strategically important locations in all of Afrusha."

The old wizard walked over to the map upon the wall to point out their destination. "For those that may not know already, we will be one of many groups protecting the land of our great ancestors, this land we know as 'The Birthplace'. But more specifically, we are headed to Halflore, where the Coastal Castle of the Halflands awaits our protection." Orleans was pointing to a coastal area on the middle-western edge of Africa's cusp, near current day Cameroon. "It is not far from where we are now, depending on what a few thousand miles feels like to you. And I'm sure that means some of you may now be wondering how it is we will travel."

Their leader next went on to mock the other wizard's within his team, "Well, _'I'm a wizard and I can get there in the blink of an eye'_ , some of you might be thinking." He spoke in a squeaky-wimp voice, impersonating most of the wizards he'd met along his journeys. "Some wizards might think _you're too good_ to walk across a damn continent. You might have been brought up by a clan like the Feinling and feel like you're _far too privileged to have any dirt between your toes._ Well... I'm here to welcome you to frening reality. Not everything in this life can be gained by blinking your eyes."

The waken could feel the glares, but didn't seem affected by them at all. "You might feel like some of you out are being singled out, and that's because you are. But don't get insulted by it, please. That will only reveal your own insecurities. And any insecurity you carry onto the battlefield can, _and will_ become a weakness. And it is that weakness that can get you frening killed. Unless you can find that weakness, see it, neutralize it, and turn it into a frening strength. Right now."

Speaking as he walked through the crowd, the old wizard explained deeper, "You see, I am a wizard... but I was never born with the ability of teleportation, that ability that so many of you depend on so instinctively. Because, as most don't even care to realize, that ability merged into most wizard clans when the ancient mage clans of Sncloud and Longsive gave up some ancient war and began mating with wizards – which for those that decide to care not about history was a long frening time ago. My ancestors, however, those of clan Willowstave, they decided not to mate with them. Instead, in an act of defiance, my ancestors started messing with the warlock clan of Warhart. Thus, they created the clan I became born into, that of Willowhart. So my birth didn't gift me any abilities of blinking anywhere I could think of. I was just like everyone else, and when I closed my eyes, no matter what place I imagined, I would always be drawn to Elder Castle. But that is exactly where I learned of my true ability. Because I never had the privilege of blinking away from trouble, I found myself molded into a much greater warrior, more like a warwalker than any wizard. And without even knowing it, I had turned what I believed to be my own weakness into my own strength. Thus I went out to experience my first war in my thirteenth age... and haven't even glanced back since."

After letting all that sink in, Orleans went on, "Now, I have always been one to let everyone get to know each other before battle. Some call it dumb, excessive, but I call it nothing but mandatory. That is because I believe that we are truly a family in all this, and good chemistry is so necessary when it comes to great success. So everyone will have enough time to do exactly that on our way to the coast. I'm sure not all of you will be happy about it, but after all, that is the point. Along the way you'll all find those insecurities I spoke of. Your weaknesses will no doubt be revealed. But it is up to you, each one of you, to change those negativities into positives. If not... you won't have to worry about dirt in between your toes... you'll be frening buried in it. We do not know how far the demon army has already spread, and should hope to arrive before those drakers do, so we can make sure to defend the central city from their assaults. But, in all reality, the scum might already be there by now. That's why we don't want to risk blinking over there, hanging onto the backs of all the wizards that hold the ability. Instead, all we need at our backs is the gentle nudge of destiny, letting us see that this day, it is ours! Now, onward! A still mind is a wasted one."

Orleans turned and led the way to the castle doors as other teams around them blinked out of sight, crowding around their group's teleporting wizards. His group, however, followed behind the wakenwide in a cluster of bodies. The team's spirits were high as they left that castle behind on foot, setting out into the thick forest beyond the wall and heading south towards the Congo Coast to see how far the demons had already advanced into The Birthplace.

* * *

As Orleans led his team out of the deep forest that surrounded the castle and into the even deeper forest of the land known as The Attenburrow, which was the current day Sahara, the days grew long. The sun would have trouble penetrating the thick tree cover, and the nights would chill their bones. But through it all – the sweat, the shivering – everyone got to know each other. These witches were all left exchanging stories to distract themselves from the elements, and only stopped to break every three days, within the various patches of green that dotted the great desert.

It was during that first break where Palmisano felt he may actually be learning about this new 'family'. He watched the twins, Hani and Yani, sparring with each other as the witch Relayna walked over to her counterpart, Evette. It seemed the two of them had a hard time coping with each other on a normal basis. But the extreme circumstances seemed to be helping their progression. Once a loving couple, these two witches had decided to separate from each other, only to be reunited by the elder's call. Relayna liked to think of their turbulence as fate working its magic, but Evette saw it as more of an annoyance. She rolled her eyes as the younger willborn approached.

"You see, Evette," Relayna smiled as she pulled her soft, orange hair from her face, "The fates have spoken. We are meant for each other."

"Sure, Layna, but you always say that." Evette responded lazily, dirty blonde hair already pulled back and tied up. "And then you go and treat me like some second rate sex toy and bring in some warlock to join us, when you know my legs don't swing that way."

"Yes, but in my defense..." Relayna, the younger of the two, paused for a moment. "I may have been a bit intoxicated at that time, and it was a mistake that will never happen again."

"Yeah, you always say that too." Her counterpart commented in a sour tone. "And I have no choice but to trust you... not because I believe you... but because I want to, so frening badly. I just don't..."

"No more words." Relayna cut her off as she leaned over to kiss the witch ever so gently.

As their lips parted, the twins came back into focus beyond the arc of their bodies. Palmisano watched as the warlock brother, Hani, hopped over the low, sweeping leg of his witch sister, Yani. The young warlock threw a right handed fist towards her while still in the air, only for his sister to duck under it and throw back a looping crescent kick. Hani caught her foot inches in front of his face and spun his sister down into the dirt. Yani rolled with her own momentum and hopped back up, already reaching out towards the oncoming foot of her brother. She wasn't fast enough, though, and Hani's foot slammed into her chest, knocking the witch straight down onto her back.

With the wind knocked out of her, she still found a way to roll away from a slamming hammer-fist, letting her brother dig his knuckles into nothing but dirt as she stumbled up to her feet again. As Hani faced her, wiping the mud from his sweat drenched right arm, Yani dodged three quick jabs... left, right, left. Hani finished the combo as he threw another straight kick at her chest. This time, though, she managed to spin to the side of it, down the length of his outstretched leg to sneak a quick elbow into the back of his skull. The warlock stumbled forward and spun around, grinning wildly. He happily motioned for her to proceed, and the two siblings went back at each other as Palmisano's attention turned to the left of them, where Vayence and Boyle were talking about them.

As the younger witch ran her fingers through her own silver-streaked hair, sweat dripping from its tips, she asked her elder, "Is all of this normal for those two, fighting each other like this?"

Boyle had to chuckle at the question, his short gray hair thinning by the second. "Oh, yes, absolutely. Actually, this seems like a very lighthearted sparring session from what I can tell. I've fought with them before, and I still remember all the terra that was being thrown around."

Terra was also a word used to describe the life-energy that resided inside of each witch.

"It surprised me to see how much their bloodline had left for battle." Boyle went on, "So, if I must say, the Fairclouds are true artists when it comes to war. For them, fighting is a game. Their clan ruled the violent land of Baltica with a charged fist for millennia. And legend has it that those ancestors were more brutal than the fiercest of Baltica's beasts, including the fabled Arkens."

Vayence had a look of intrigue upon her face. "And how, by the furies, do you know so much about that past? Never in my life was I ever given privilege to learn of such things. I have heard of such a land before, Baltica, but my father told me to forget about it. The Elders had buried those histories for a reason, and he taught me since birth to never seek out what that reason was. He said it would get me killed."

Boyle laughed. "Your father seems a bit of an extremist." He had to admit. "I knew a few like him, always fearful of the hidden past. But from what I've read, from books that are now no more than ash, the only history our Elders wish to hide is how close we once walked to that line of evil we now seek to wipe clean. And the Faircloud clan is a perfect example of that evil."

The old wizard explained further, rubbing his naked chin. "Because of the circumstances that forced that clan to live the way they did, their bloodline was crafted for fighting. Many of their clan elders were said to go mad, and those mad witches soon turned into monsters, monsters that then had to be destroyed. They created an empire within a war zone, built atop the corpses of their fellow witches. So it is easy to see how that far ancient wilderness had a very negative effect on all that survived that time, and their techniques were ultimately passed down to all future generations. For them, each strike is a small victory, and in battle those strikes will be made with sword in hand, turning each small victory into instant death for their opponents. Their reflexes are fast as lightning, built on muscle memory instead of magic... because magic, for them, almost seems to hold their true abilities back. Rarely will a Faircloud cast a spell in battle. Instead, they would much rather spend that time attacking and defending. Spell-casting leaves one open for attack, and because of that detriment, the thought to cast even a single spell never even enters their mind."

"I thought you'd appreciate having them around." A voice came from behind, and the witch and wizard turned to see Orleans approaching. As Vayence bowed in surprise, Boyle pulled her back up.

"Don't even think about showing this fool any kind of respect. I don't even know how he got in charge of anything, let alone all of us." Boyle tried to sound upset, confusing Vayence, but Orleans would have none of it.

"Don't listen to this old draker." Orleans cut in. "The waken may have shaved his beard, but that's only to hide his age. He might have a lot of stories, but there's no telling how decayed that brain of his truly is. So I'd be careful with taking his advice. At his age, that advice is so old... each memory has a beard of its own."

At that, Boyle burst into laughter, slapping his old friend hard on the back. "Don't confuse the witch, you frening fool. You want to talk about age... you haven't changed your tactics since youth-hood. You've been trying to get me killed for frening millennia!"

"Ha!" Orleans laughed out loud. "I'm afraid you've got it all wrong, friend. After you stole Alayna from me, I've been keeping you alive so I can kill you with my own frening hands."

Boyle could hardly catch his breath he was laughing so hard. "After all this frening time, you still have to throw that witch in my face... seriously?" He turned to Vayence to explain. "I may not be a warlock, but I sure was a foolheart as a youth. But Alayna turned out to be pretty crazy. We hardly lasted a sunset."

"I tried to warn you about her." Orleans sympathized. "I told you all about those Starfire witches, but..."

"I know. I just wouldn't listen." Boyle cut him off.

"And you should next time," Orleans got Boyle laughing again.

"You got it, Composer-for-now."

Orleans' face crinkled at his words. "Please, Boyle, don't call me that. You know that titles have never fit me."

"Yeah, well, neither does that frening beard!" Boyle joked. "At least I still _try_ to hide my age."

Orleans burst into laughter again as Hani came rolling through the dirt in front of them. Yani was right behind her brother, kicking him right in the mouth before he made it up to his feet. A stream of blood followed the young warlock onto the ground, splattering onto his face as he landed on his shoulder. Her next kick, straight to his chest while he was still on his side, just about sent him into the crowd of meditating witches.

Those witches were all from the clan Carvos, all two dozen of them, and they were constantly at work to keep all of their power signatures intertwined. By doing this, instead of each witch or warlock drawing energy from within oneself or from the Terra provided by the Earth, they instead drew from the collective group. Daros, one of the clan elders, was leading everyone in their chant. His younger brother, Barros, was right beside him.

Palmisano's attention then turned to the other large group of witches that sat gathered together. They were all part of the Venderin clan, and no one could think of either of those clans without thinking of the other. These two clans once stood as hated rivals. Now through circumstance became forced to coexist in this new order that the Elders had created. The Venderins acted far less civilized than the Carvos clan, and they spent almost the entire rest-break criticizing and laughing at their former enemies.

"Haven't we taught you anything by killing you off?" Sylus began shouting. "Oh, wait, I get it. You're chanting to open the fields, readying the death realm for your arrival, because words serve no purpose in war, lest to get you frening killed!"

"Quit wasting your breath on those cowards!" Everus, an elder Venderin was there to shut him up. "You want to say that words will get one killed? Well, just keep talking and we'll see who winds up dead!"

The younger warlock seemed to heed his elder's advice, while Mykus, one of the youngest in their group, watched on intently. The young foolheart was still learning the inner workings of the Venderin clan, exactly as the elder wizard Chargon was doing. They all expected a brawl to break out at some point. The two witches next to them, Talisa and Fayth, along with the warlock Chanlo, couldn't help but stare on in amusement. Being from the frozen lands of the north they weren't used to the dissention that the southern clans still held for each other.

Sprug, the warlock beside Palmisano, could only shake his head, "Such disrespect." With two stone handled battle axes nearly as large as the warlock strapped across his back, Palmisano's attention turned back to Orleans as their leader was already addressing everyone, "Alright, the sun has nearly set. Rest is over. We shall stop again three sunsets from now. Until then, I want everyone together."

And three sunsets later, they stopped to rest again. This time, though, Orleans sent a few witches out to search for water. He knew that a few hundred-thousand years before, this land used to be known as Three River Kingdom, because of the three rivers that cut through it from the north. But finding one of those rivers in the dense jungle was a task that not even the witches were able to accomplish, and that had put everyone in an awkward position. As witches, like all other life on this planet, they needed water to survive. And without it, everyone's tensions seemed to be far less submissive.

Evette spun Sylus around, pushed him out of the way and slapped Relayna across the face. "You never change, do you?!" The witch screamed. "I've heard your lies for long enough! If I'd have given you three more seconds, you would've gotten your legs spread in the center of that damn crowd! And those Venderins would rip you to pieces!"

"Wait, Evette. No, it's not what you..." Relayna tried to defend herself, but Evette would hear none of it.

"No, I'm not waiting anymore, not for you!" The older witch screamed into the face of her younger counterpart. "Do you love him... do you? No, more importantly, does he love you?! Do you honestly believe that fool gives a damned by the god's fury about anything but that forsaken by the fates hole between those legs?!"

Sylus tried to defend himself, "I would treat her right, if that's what you're asking. All of us would."

Evette's eyes turned cold as they met his. "You'd better shut that damn hole of yours before anymore shit falls out of it... because the next time it does, I'll cram it right back down your frening throat! I know how you Venderins treat witches, and by the number of warlocks I see in your clan... it seems that many others do, as well. This one's just frening dumb!"

"Hey!" Relayna shouted, but only to turn Evette's rage back onto her.

"Don't even try and deny it, willborn!" Evette screamed in her face. "If you're going to choose a sorry lump of flesh like him, over me... then I think there's only one word that sums up that sort of ignorance... frening dumb!"

Relayna tried to stop her from leaving, "Wait, Evette, I..."

"Don't you even say a thing, don't even dare, Layna!" Evette turned back to face her. "You don't love anything but yourself! You're nothing more than a selfish youth, and I don't know why I ever thought I could change you. Now, all I ask is for you to stay the furies away from me."

"Evette, no, wait." Relayna tried stopping her to no avail. "It doesn't matter what you say! I'll always be there, do you hear me?! Always! When fate fails to guard your back, I will stand in its place!"

"She's not listening, c'mon." Sylus tried to pull her away by the arm.

But the young witch pulled herself away, "No... no, I don't think..."

"You're right, witch, you _don't_ think!" Sylus stormed off, insulted. "We could've given your sweet ass everything!"

"If you're referring to disease, then I'm glad I changed my frening mind!" She called back to him. "Dirty Venderin... what was I even thinking?"

Palmisano's eyes followed Sylus as he made his way over to the group of meditating Carvos in an attempt to relieve a bit of stress. "You won't kill any demons with your eyes closed, witches!" He taunted them. "So I think the time might be here for you to open up those eyes and see the truth for once in your damn lives! And truth is... you are horrible warriors that will only get yourselves killed! Allow us to take your backs and maybe you'll walk away with breath left over."

The eyes of Varos fluttered open, breaking all the concentration they sought to hold together. His face was burning with anger as he responded, "With you at our backs, I fear we would all die. You've been trying to get behind us for centuries now, but we know it is only to ram your cocks within our collective ass! So, no... you care for nothing but..."

The hand of Barros on his shoulder helped to calm him down. "Do not allow their anger to become yours. It will only blind us from the full potential of our power, as it has done to them."

The face of Varos was still boiling with anger despite his attempts to subside it. But as the elegant figure of the witch Tamara crossed his path, it all seemed to dissolve as he began to blush.

Barros chuckled, "As will those emotions, I am afraid. Now come, let us continue."

All the negativity was no doubt affecting the twins as they were both sulking in the dirt. Beside them sat the warlock Slanded. Almost hiding behind the witch Elion, they both tried their best to stay out of any confrontation. They had hit it off a few days earlier and hadn't stopped talking to each other since. But at the moment they were both silent. The mysterious Dogru stood behind them, stiff as a statue, with his arms crossed inside of his long sleeves and his large hood hung over his face despite the immense heat. _'Maybe he's got the right idea,'_ Palmisano thought to himself, _'Maybe I should hide under my hood before it's too late.'_

And at that very moment, it was the warlock Marigny who kneeled down beside him, "Fun, isn't it?"

' _Too late,'_ Palmisano thought before he responded. "Um, I don't know, is it?"

"Well, sure." Marigny told him. "Orleans knows what the fury he's doing. This is all necessary."

"Is it, really?" Palmisano's face smudged. "Couldn't we have just blinked over there and started by taking out all this aggression on the demons?"

"Of course," Marigny reiterated, this time with a thick sarcasm, "If you wanted all of this to start happening with demons in our face. Because, you see, this is all inevitable. These clans never got along before and they simply can't get along now. The peace we have now, this faux sense of unity... it was forced, not planned, and not near enough time has passed for those old grudges to fade. Everyone still hates each other. That is a fact. And all of their anger needs to be released in the right way so we can focus on the task at hand. The distain shared by the Carvos and Venderin is pure, and it probably always will be. So, at the end of the day, it's just better for them to get this out now as opposed to later."

Palmisano nodded, "Sure, I suppose."

"No, don't suppose," Marigny cut him off. "This is a frening fact. We were all assembled together for a reason... and we need to live up to our purpose. It is the demons who we must attack, not ourselves. That is the point Orleans is trying to make. And besides all that, would you really want a dozen witches hanging onto you every time we blinked? Unless, of course, you're one of those conceited wizards that thinks everyone can go blinking around the world like yourself."

"Yes, actually," Palmisano confirmed, "I am one of those conceited wizards. But blinking all over the world... it doesn't really work like that."

"Oh, really," Marigny snickered. "Well, then, please, enlighten me."

Palmisano had to smile at his attitude, the glint in his eyes that revealed a unique sort of cockiness, one not bordering on conceit, and instead thriving on confidence. This warlock differed so much from the others. That much was clear. And there seemed to be something about him that made the young wizard build an instant trust with him.

"Well, first off, much like our leader, I can't blink." He was lying, but showed no signs of it. "And even if I was so privileged, blinking to a place you've never seen before just doesn't work." His memories were flashing back to the time his father warned him of his rare abilities. The ability of blinking was no doubt a rare and sacred one. But it was not simply passed down through bloodlines. Blinking can be mastered by anyone. That is why he should never reveal such knowledge to anyone, for fear of it falling into the wrong hands. But even though he couldn't admit it, it didn't prevent him from explaining it. "You see, Orleans may have been right about his clan not accepting the bloodline from which this ability came. But even for those that did, not every child was born with it. My father was, his brother, as well... but not me. He tried to teach me for many years, but..."

"Teach you?"

"Yes, why?" Palmisano asked in turn, swallowing his sudden nerves.

"Oh, nothing more than simple curiosity." Marigny shrugged his shoulders with just the right amount of nonchalance. "I always wondered how, you know, all that stuff worked."

"Well," the young wizard began, trying to be as vague as possible, "He told me that as long as an image can be constructed in my mind, a direction and location, then I would be there when I opened my eyes. If not, if the picture I built in my mind wasn't clear enough, that's when things could go wrong."

"What, like blinking into a wall or something?" Marigny asked, beginning to catch on.

"Yes, exactly," Palmisano nodded. "It would be all too possible to rematerialize inside of a solid object if the image in your mind was wrong. Or, even worse, as my father once told me of his brother making a blind blink, you might completely disappear from existence."

"Wait, what does that even mean?" Marigny questioned further, now confused.

Palmisano could only shrug his shoulders. "It was during some battle before my birth. My father told me how he and his brother were being overrun by vampires, giving them no time to think, and that his brother tried to blink back home on instinct alone. My father gave himself some space before blinking right behind him... but he never saw his brother again. No one knows what happened to him, just that he disappeared."

"So, even if you were able to blink, for instance, you wouldn't have been able to blink to Halflore anyway, would you?"

Palmisano smiled. "I've been there before, once, when I was a youth. So I have a vague remembrance of the layout of things. I remember that the Short Forest surrounds the city, so I would have probably aimed us right outside of that forest to be safe... if I were able, of course."

"But," Marigny had to argue, "If that forest had grown just a little bit wider than your memories of it, a few of these witches could have found themselves implanted in those trees, am I right?"

Palmisano had to nod his head. "Sure, it's possible. But I'd like to think that, if I had those abilities, I would wield them with a bit more accuracy than that. So, I believe we would've been fine."

"Yeah, sure," Marigny spoke with a thick sarcasm, "Says the conceited wizard who can't even blink to begin with. You've spent too much time with your own kind. You are far too confident in an ability you don't even possess. With fifteen witches hanging all over you, sure, you might set yourself in that perfect sweet spot. But with hundreds... who knows how many others would become tree bark around you? If you wish to be so sure of yourself, you must first leave open the possibility of doubt, of fear. Remain open to the fact that despite how long you've trained yourself for any given moment, you could always be wrong about it. And once you've done that, once you've admitted to yourself that mistakes _can_ be made, only then can you begin to solve anything."

"You sound like you've made a few mistakes in your day." Palmisano commented.

The young warlock grinned, "And maybe I have, but before we move on... I've got one more bit of advice for you." He looked his new wizard friend right in the eyes. "Whatever love you left behind in that former life of yours... frening forget her! Not because I think you're going to die out there, no, but because you need to stay more focused than ever before in your life. And besides, with a face like that... I'm sure she's already moved on to the next stick." He tapped the long, wooden staff that the wizard had strapped to his back, "If you know what I mean."

The comment smudged Palmisano's face with stupor as he tapped on Marigny's chest in return, "Is there even a heart in there?"

His grin widened as he answered, "I like to call it 'my little annoyance'."

And with that, Orleans was already standing up to address the ever angering crowd, "Enough! That is enough!" The wizard had to shout out loud for everyone to hear. "If any of you are to act like this on the battlefield, I assure you that none of us will walk off of it! I understand that none of you like each other, and that being thirsty and tired only angers you further. But I've got some frening news for you! I'm tired too, and my throat is drier than this damn dirt... but don't think, not for one furious second, that I like any of you right now either!"

Their leader's breath was heavy, huffing and puffing with anger, and he wasn't finished yet. "So Carvos wants to concentrate their Terra, and Venderin wants to focus their aggression... good for frening you! But where, by the gods, does that leave me? Am I supposed to care that Carvos is a clan of peace, and that the Venderins have overstepped their boundaries for centuries by attacking them? Because if I _am_ supposed to care... well, you've all got me mistaken for the wrong frening wizard! I couldn't care less about your millennia old grudges! Nearly a thousand ages have passed since the last war, so get the fury over it! If this is the peace we fought for by wiping out the vampire race, then bring those blood sucking drakers back any damn day... because you witch's make me sick!"

He was waving his arms around as he went on, "But if you wish to hate each other, fine, who am I to frening stop you? Go ahead and walk onto that battlefield wearing your anger like war paint, see if I care. And when you do, because you're all a bunch of selfish fools, unwilling to change your ways to save your own lives, those demons will welcome any such mistakes. They will feed off of your anger, your hatred, and they'll mold it into a molten rod to shove up all your frening asses!"

The waken's finger was pointing warningly into the crowd, "So if any of you wish to survive this, if you ever wish to reach that place called home after this is all over, then you sorry drakers better learn how to work together. Because if you don't, well... I don't think there will even be a home left to send your corpse to. These demons will ruin all of Terra, replace all oxygen with sulfur and hydrogen, and flood the oceans with the blood of every volcano. They will not stop until everything is dead, all life. That's why it is our duty to make sure they are not allowed to even try, and to kill every last one of them in the process. So trust each other, damn it! Ignoring your fellow witch's back is no different from driving your own knife into it! We either fight this war together, as one cohesive unit... or we perish within the sands of time alone, as cold and bloated corpses. Now, move, we're leaving! We should arrive in six days! So resolve your grudges by that time or suffer whatever fate you create!" And after that, they all left, none of them speaking another word.

* * *

After another week had gone by, Orleans was sure they were getting closer. But without a single soul being seen, some began to grow complacent.

' _The demons couldn't have advanced this far that fast, no way!'_

That seemed to be the common thought process. But few there had ever even seen a demon before, so assumptions such as those, Orleans knew, would only serve to distract the mind from the unknown fate they were entering into. Despite his words of warning, though, the assumptions persisted. Instead of arguing with each other, they now argued about where the demons might be.

"We are in the damn Attenburrow! We can gauge nothing until we at least exit these trees. Only then will we know what fate awaits us." Orleans tried to pound those words into their skulls as they grew nearer, and upon exiting the mighty desert forest, they ran into some confusion almost instantly.

His warnings soon rang all too true.

He remembered there being a small city of welcome right outside the giant forest, lined with sand, and before the Short Forest beyond it. They should have walked right through it, but instead they seemed to be walking through ash.

"This is not good... not frening good at all." Orleans stated in disbelief, rubbing the ash between his thumb and index finger. "There are only two creatures able to reduce an entire village to ash, and we killed the last dragon long ago."

The warlock Marigny walked over to him, almost smiling. "Well, we apparently killed the demons, too. But..." The look on Orleans' face wiped away his smile. "Alright, I'm sorry. Honestly, though, you really think the demons have advanced this deep into our own territory so quickly?"

"We are going to have to assume they have." Orleans told him, "I know this land to be thriving with animal life... but I see nothing. It is far too quiet. So I want to proceed into the center city with extreme caution. If you want me to be honest, I have a very bad feeling about all of this."

"Well, if I may," Marigny cut in, "I suggest we lay down roots for the night. I could go find a safe spot to set up camp within the cover of the trees. I'm sure everyone wouldn't mind a final rest, and we might be able to discuss further plans of moving forward while safely tucked into the shadows."

Orleans seemed frozen in question, as if he knew not how to proceed next. That's when Boyle stepped up to join the two of them in their little huddle. "I agree with Marigny." The old wizard chimed in. He had followed Orleans through many battles before this one, but never had he seen the great wizard in such disarray. He tried to help as much as he could. "I know this is all a bit overwhelming, even for us. I've seen villages burned before, but not an entire city completely reduced to ash – not like this. These demons will be very powerful, there is no doubt in that, but I believe clear minds would serve better against them than clouded skulls."

As Orleans nodded, Marigny slapped him on the shoulder before he and the old wizard disappeared out into the Short Forest.

Palmisano just stood back and watched everyone, observing all the witches he had met over the course of the last two weeks. He believed that walking there was a bad idea, that it gave the demons an extra week to beat them there if they hadn't already. But he wasn't about to argue with anyone about it. He'd heeded his father's words, keeping his true abilities to himself, something he intended to do for as long as he was able.

He watched his leader wander around aimlessly, as if he hadn't ever expected this to happen, despite all of his warnings to everyone else of how likely it was. It was the first thing that crossed Palmisano's mind upon hearing they were walking there, that the demons would arrive first. But he wandered if Orleans had ever doubted himself for a moment, being so caught up in his game of making everyone get along, and began to think the old wizard to be far too confident for his own good.

The kindlefell digressed and started watching the strange and silent warlock Dogru, standing by in stillness as he so often seemed to do. Palmisano had a knack for seeing things in others they sometimes never saw themselves, but Dogru was someone he could not seem to figure out at all.

He watched as the witch Shaydince approached the strange warlock and tried to make conversation, and Dogru acted as if no one was even there, not even turning his head to look at her.

His attention soon turned to the twin witches, Hani and Yani, as brother and sister began to fight with each other again, training for the coming battle that no one else seemed to see. Their urgency brought an ease to his mind. _'At least there are some here that actually realize a fight is about to take place.'_ It seemed like most were not even prepared to fight, not even thinking a sneak attack could come at any moment. Palmisano understood that even though this may have once been friendly territory, it was now hostile, and more than likely belonged to the demons. Orleans should be explaining to everyone their next course of action instead of just standing there and looking dumbfounded, but Palmisano was not about to open his mouth, not when someone else should.

The warlock Ogar stumbled by and got his foot caught up in the hanging cloak of the wizard Harkiss. The awkward warlock spun around and got grabbed by his arm a moment before planting his face in the dirt. And as the warlock thanked the wizard, Palmisano saw how others were beginning to use this time to rest. Vayence and Boyle sat down not far away from him, followed by Varos, Elisa and Koreset, right beside him. The older witch Evette looked to be giving a lesson on how to break an arm to the young witch sisters Elion and Tegan, while the wizard Chargon crossed his legs to meditate near them. He was accompanied by Relayna, seated next to him, but she never seemed to take her eyes off of Evette.

Two hundred witches were now crowded around the ashes of that old outer village, and after enough time had passed Palmisano finally settled in with them. They waited for Marigny to return a few hours later, as the sun was beginning to set. The young warlock would lead them through the large forest for a mile or so, and then into a small clearing where he had already set up a pile of wood. He held his hand out and shot a tiny blast of red energy from his fingertip, lighting up the fire as everyone sat down around it, all two hundred and twelve of them.

Orleans soon stood in the center of them all, right beside the fire.

"So it seems we have run into some complications."

Palmisano tried to put himself as far away from the decision making as possible. So he squeezed himself into the second to last row of witches, getting pushed forward by the ornery Venderin clan as they filled up the back of the crowd. Yet through their endless snickering he somehow heard Orleans continue on.

"It is very possible that the demons have arrived here before us, but we do not know if they have taken the central city or the Coastal Castle as of yet. Tomorrow, though, at the break of dawn... we'll find out."

"I could assemble a small search party tonight, if you wished," Marigny suggested as he stood up next to him.

"No," Orleans told him, his voice deep and sounding almost agitated. "I would rather not separate at night. As I told you already, we are a much stronger force when united as one."

There was a brief silence as everyone took in their situation.

Then all pandemonium broke loose.

***

The horror came from out of nowhere yet stormed out from everywhere at once – demons – countless in number, jumping out of the forest all around, all at once. No one had heard them coming, not even a crunched leaf, and most could not even turn in time to protect themselves.

The jagged swords of those demons, carved from stone and sharpened with flame, slashed silently through the backs of each witch that sat in the back line, some getting set ablaze by balls of molten fire.

Blood sprayed up into the air as screams from those still on fire filled everyone's ears. It was a sudden and silent death for many, and a painfully loud and excruciating death for the rest. And just like that, the entire back line of witches got taken down, reduced to a mere bloodstain in a few horrible seconds, leaving everyone else in complete disarray.

"At your guard, everyone!" Orleans yelled out as he leapt into action, pushing his way through the panicked crowd, "They are everywhere! We must repel them! Marigny, take the east! Boyle, control the west! Keep everyone together! And keep the bastards in front of us! We must not give up our ground! Kill as many as you can! Leave them to the frening furies!!! But do not break formation!"

His words were meaningless, though, as the Lord of the team jumped into the frenzied crowd of demons, slicing an arm off one of them and chopping another in half at the waist. The demons may have been fragile, but countless more kept pouring around them. The beasts had already penetrated their ranks, and it had already become a game of every witch for themselves.

Palmisano had felt the blood splatter onto his back, exploded from the warlocks behind him. And to think, he would have been sitting in that exact spot had he not gotten pushed forward. The wizard spun around and saw the sword of the demon stabbed through the chest of the warlock behind him, one he couldn't name, with blood spraying from every direction. That warlock's body was then tossed to the ground, allowing Palmisano to see his very first demon up close.

With long, insect-like heads and jagged black teeth hanging out of their mouths, their shoulders and arms were like chiseled stone, muscles carved from millennia worth of torment, and veins bulging out to throb with pent up aggression.

The demon snarled at Palmisano as he reached frantically for his staff. So with fingers that were already wet with nervousness as slobber splattered upon his cheeks, he managed to latch onto that staff – a staff handed down from father to son – as his heart pounded with a sudden fear. But with his first swing... that wood got snapped in half by the stone-chiseled sword of the roaring demon.

As more swarmed around him, left at his side was the sweet calm that accompanied death. He was already preparing himself to die, and for all his luck should have been dead already. But just as he let his nerves go, allowing his shattered staff to fall into the dirt, holding open only bare hands to welcome the cold chill that such an abrupt end brought with it... another warlock beside him became slashed in two, leaving his sword to drop right into Palmisano's open left palm.

His fingers instinctively latched onto a familiar feeling, surging terra flowing through the newly acquired blade, ignited instantly with a bright green glow. Then just as the demon swung at him again – the wizard's eyes moving from his new sword to his snarling opponent – he chopped its head off with one clean swing.

The young wizard could see that the demons were everywhere, their red and black flesh serving as his new surroundings, but he had already found his strength. Suddenly gone was the grip he had on the past, and in its place rested the sword he would use to carve his way into the future. There was another demon right behind the one he'd felled. With a deep groan he knew taking them out in bunches was his only chance if he wanted to survive.

As that demon shot a ball of molten flame at Palmisano, the wizard used the flat side of his sword to knock it down to the ground. With fire exploding in the dirt he leaped up into the air, slipping the blade away.

"Energy, gather," he yelled out, beginning to pull in energy from the demons themselves, all that latent power that the demons knew not how to control. He gathered it within his hands while the fireball below rose up, some of the flames mixing with the growing ball of energy. Then he screamed out loud, "Blast!" And at that moment, a glow of burning hot energy shot down his arm and exploded out from his hand. Palmisano was pushing out all that energy he'd gathered from the demons and sending it right back down at them in a mighty storm of explosive green light.

That blast wiped out an entire crowd of over fifty demons, ripping up the ground as it vaporized them into nothing more than left over pieces of bone.

But as he hit that ground and rolled to his feet within the rut he'd dug up, more demons came at him from all sides. No longer could the kindlefell see the fire through the mass of bodies, so he knew he was away from everyone else. That's when he prepared a ball of energy in one hand while he pulled his sword back out and fought the demons off with the other.

Meanwhile, on the other side of that fire it was the Carvos clan who banded together in tight formation to face this new threat. All they did, though, was turn themselves into easy targets for the demons to pick apart. Boyle tried to help as he shouted out blurred orders of encouragement, staff swinging from left to right, never enough to even slow the crazed attackers.

As the bodies of the Carvos clan dropped, it was the young Mykus of the Venderin clan who had a chance to save one of them. Varos reached out his hand only for Mykus to ignore it, just as the Venderins were meant to do. That's when that hand got chopped off to flip in the air while the body of Varos was cut to pieces right in front of Mykus. It left the foolheart unsure of his decision, but could think no more of it as that very same demon turned to attack.

The severed hand of the Carvos brightling got kicked to the side, where the warlock Dogru stood still in one spot, slashing the demons to pieces as they came at him. The witch Shaydince wasn't far away from him, doing almost the same thing except she was using her two curved sickles to double the death that surrounded her. But others within the group were not faring so well against the legion of red and black warriors.

The young warlock Slanded got stuck at the center of all the madness, right next to the fire. He had joined the protectors to impress a witch. He never thought the world would ever be threatened like this again and decided to join as soon as he was old enough. The Elders allowed him in because he had defended his farm from a group of roaming Lycanthrope during the beast's exile, which turned out to be the only battle experience he'd ever had. And now he was lying face down in the dirt, his eyes wide open and still watching the carnage take place around him, frozen in fear.

He watched a demon slash and rip through the chest of a warlock with claws extended, another body falling right into the fire. Then a young witch dropped onto the ground, right in front of his eyes, hers left wide open and empty of life as a pool of blood neared his face, streaming out of her neck. He could have gotten up to get killed along with everybody else around him. But instead decided to be a coward and keep his life, remaining on the ground and staring into the blank eyes of the witch he'd met earlier in the week.

She had a life before this, a family. Her name was Elion, and now she was just another dead body on the battlefield, one of the first casualties of this 'Demon Conquest'. He was able to hear the sobs of another witch nearby, but figured it was just another witch trying to play dead like him. If so, he thought, they clearly weren't doing as good of a job.

Lord Orleans wasn't far away. "Our world will not be deleted so easily!" He screamed out to the hordes of demons as he spun around, sword swinging in every direction, "You have started a war that you cannot win, and you _will_ regret it!"

The waken slashed through the demons in droves as he moved through the crowds, the steel of his blade rotating and slashing with every step he took. He sliced one of them across the chest, knocking it to the side as he beheaded another, continuing to move forward, further out into the woods in a blind dash of rage.

Watching the witches he vowed to protect being slaughtered before his eyes made something snap inside of his head. It was like he had tunnel vision, planning five or six steps ahead before killing the first demon in front of him. The next one got shot in the chest with a quick outburst of energy, knocking the beast through the fire and into the crowd of fighting beyond it. The charred corpse landed at the feet of Marigny, who was right on the other side of that fire having his way with the demons. While others were dying all around him and fighting for their lives, he seemed to be having the time of his life.

Marigny was unlike most other warlocks, unique to his time. Warlocks, as a species, were born with an internal instinct to fight. That is why the warlock youth had been bestowed the name of Foolheart, because their anger always outweighed their logic. But in every generation there were always a few that rose far above that title. For those select few the title of 'Warwalker' was granted, and Marigny found himself quickly approaching that level. He had the ability to lead any team to victory. However, instead he opted to keep himself back in the shadows, always allowing someone else to play the lead role.

For Marigny, war was never about gaining respect or striking fear into anyone. He simply craved the feel of warm blood upon his knuckles and splashes of guts upon his face. He longed to kill, nothing more. For him, war was only about death – either his or his enemies. And it made him push the limits of his power to new heights every time he faced an enemy more powerful than he. So this, finding himself dangerously outnumbered by a horde of demons, it was like a dream come true, not a nightmare as it was for so many others.

He toyed with the demons, having fun with the beasts as he did his best to keep them away from everyone else. He sliced one of their arms off, snatched it out of the air and promptly smacked another demon in the mouth with it, drawing it away from the clumsy Harkiss.

Marigny smiled as the demon turned and snarled at him, so he grabbed it by a horn with one hand. As he held that demon in place, he stuck his sword out behind him and drove it through the gut of another that came charging at his back. He followed up by yanking the other demon around by the head, legs swinging up into the air to kick another charging demon across the face. That's when yet another demon lunged over the one that Marigny had just dropped. The warlock pulled that sword around, the first demon still stuck on it, and stabbed the lunging demon straight in the chest, sliding that first demon further down his blade.

Marigny now had two demons on the blade of his sword and still another crowd coming at him. In response, he kicked the two demons off the blade and into that mass of black and red, pushing them back. Now with a short distance created between him and the demons, Marigny gathered a bright red energy into his arms, glowing beneath his flesh. Those demons slowed, left staring in awe at the growing red light emanating from his arms in a state of near confusion.

The red glow now extended down his forearms and expanded into his hands. The warlock had his left foot leading towards the demons and both of his arms at his right side, palms clamped together, holding back the energy trying to explode outward.

"I like to call this..." A wide smile twisted across his face as his eyes darted from demon to demon. "Pathetic swine, welcome my wrath!" Marigny then stepped forward with his right foot, throwing his arms out and unleashing a violent wave of energy from his palms.

The energy wave widened twenty feet to each side of him and stretched out from his hands far into the forest. The blast tore apart the demons in front of him to pieces. Body parts were flying in every direction. Behind them the energy trail stretched on to reach other demons as they fought, with witches yelling out to each other to get out of its way. The blast ripped up dirt and cut down trees along with mounds of demons, damage that most witches would not take a chance in causing. But Marigny did not care. Not allowing a thing to stand in his way, it was the demons who were teaching him new limits to a strength he never knew he could reach.

As the bright red light gave way to darkness once again, Marigny was alone in front of a large rut dug into the ground, marking his blast. He stood bent over with his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. But the warlock barely had a full thirty seconds to rest before more demons charged him from all sides again. He shook his head and smiled as he watched them charging at him and waited until they were right on top of him before he finally made a move.

He leapt up into the air and began running atop their heads to make an escape. Leaping from skull to skull – stepping down hard to try and smash them – until he found an open space and dropped down within the demon crowds.

That's where he found himself standing back to back with Palmisano, both of them spinning around and slashing the surrounding demons to pieces. Arms and legs and heads dropped to the ground, one body part after another. And in a short period of time they had built up a small pile of bodies and body parts around them, causing other demons to trip over their fallen brethren and get ripped apart by whoever was closer.

The twin witches, Hani and Yani, soon came flipping into their protective circle as they retreated from a crowd of about a dozen demons. The demons were all tumbling over the pile of body's right after them, only for their own dismantled corpses to join the rest as the four witches added to the mound. Those twins just as quickly leapt right back out of the circle and into the next crowd of demons, their daggers stabbing and slashing at a rapid pace as they disappeared in a spray of crimson. They moved through the mass of beasts with a violent grace, working together to stay alive.

With a glance Yani had told her brother to get down.

In response Hani was ducking his head as Yani whipped out her crossbow to launch a quick arrow into the throat of a demon behind him.

Brother in turn ducked under sister as she jumped over him, Hani driving a dagger through the chest of a demon as Yani dropped down, slicing another down across its face.

Yani was turning to face her brother's back at the same moment a demon swung a crooked stone-cut sword at his legs. Like a single fighter Hani had back flipped into the air to avoid the strike as his sister was stepping under him to take his place and sever the arms off the demon in mid-swing.

It shrieked out in more shock than pain as its arms dropped to the ground, both hands still gripping the stone sword. Yani responded mercifully with a dagger between the eyes.

As they continued onward through the crowd, they ran past the humbled witch Relayna, who had a look of sheer determination in her eyes. She slashed back and forth, up and down, ripping apart the demons that surrounded her. And it was not only herself that she sought to protect. She made sure to keep herself positioned at the back of Evette, always leaving an eye towards her. Whenever a demon would get too close, Relayna would cut it down before Evette could even notice it. Despite their troubled relationship, Relayna wanted nothing more than to keep the witch she loved safe.

She used her terra-laced whip to slash one across the back just as the wizard Chargon came blasting his way through their mass, his staff held out in front of him. He pulled in the loose energy around him, energy that would otherwise absorb naturally into the soil, and went about expelling it from the tip of his staff in large outbursts. As he ripped another one to pieces, Boyle burst into the action.

"Fight as one," the old wizard was still shouting out encouragement. "Aid your family in need!" He stepped forward and blasted three more demons into the dirt, spinning his terra-charged staff in his hands to sever another two in tandem. "Do not relent, damn it! Let's end this war tonight!"

Chanlo had to hop over a lower torso on his way to hammering through the face of the next oncoming demon, charging behind the wizard. A quick nod of gratitude was all he had time for as they each smashed and blasted their way in separate directions, moving with the flow of the battle. Chanlo stepped in tune with a witch at each side, Talisa and Fayth. Being from the frozen north, their differences in fighting styles were starting to shine when compared to their southern counterparts – the most glaring being their use of hammers instead of blades. Some with tips of spikes, others blunt, but each one just as sure as the sharpest of swords.

The three northerners bashed their way through the invaders with little problems, their actions just as smooth as the weaponless witch who went flipping over their heads. It was Tamara, and she specialized in terra-crafted weaponry. One moment she wielded a sword to stab, the next she was flinging a spear across the battlefield, all of it crafted from the stray terra hanging loose in the air. Elsewhere on that battlefield, however, things were not faring so well for many of the witches. The demons had those others far outnumbered, and not everyone had the privilege of having their backs protected.

It turned to nothing less than utter lunacy for many.

The witch Lora-li once led her village to victory against a group of violent Centaurs centuries before, that being why Katrina sought her out and offered her a place within the protectors. But the demons were a different breed of creature. They were extremely powerful and much more aggressive than any beast that had ever walked the Earth, before or after them, unlike anything Lora-li had ever seen before. She had been defending herself since the attack started, never being allowed to gain her footing. She wasn't prepared to fight such an aggressive and plentiful foe. Thus she was soon overwhelmed and mangled, ripped limb from limb the second her guard became broken.

The warlock Oleg, who had defended his very small kingdom against a rouge wizard and an army of giants and gained great acclaim for that victory, stood no chance against the demons. He blasted crowds at a time with large blasts of energy, wearing himself down after only a few shots. So as more kept on attacking, the poor old hero eventually got swallowed up by their numbers, drowning out his legend in a pool of his own blood.

Numerous others, all regarded as great warriors from the Beast Purges and beyond, all found themselves outclassed and outmatched by the demons – Koreset, Duvilus, and Sayvus. Trasity and Daros, all brought down by these demons, all of them hardly even able to defend themselves.

They stood not a chance against the ravenous creatures of ancient times. Witches were falling left and right, all over the frantic battlefield. Ranis got run down and stabbed through the neck from behind. Worinn had his chest ripped open and watched as the demon pulled out his organs to toss them into the dirt. Just before going into shock, he looked over to see another witch, one he never knew because he didn't care to meet or speak with anyone. She got herself ripped open no differently than he had... her eyes wide with fear. So as he fell backwards with his own consciousness slipping in and out of death, she looked over and said to him, serious as all the pain she felt, "Lucky you."

Vilora, Sylus, Nilonya, Barros... Joyana, Ebin, Everus and Namos... all of them gone in an instant, slaughtered in the mere blink of an eye. And it was only a matter of time before they were all killed, every last one of them. Neither the meditation of the Carvos clan nor the pent up anger of the Venderins stood a chance against the ancient beasts, as one after another found themselves fallen in the dirt.

Orleans understood the circumstances all too well, and when it at first looked as if he were fighting in a blind rage, trying to get away from the pack, he was in fact thinking more clearly than any other. What very few knew was that he had witnessed the demon's original destruction. He may have been but a young Kindlefell at the time of the First Demon Conquests – before his life turned itself inside-out – but he remembered his time behind enemy lines quite well.

The waken knew that there had to be a higher demon somewhere out in the forest, telepathically leading these lower demons in their attack. He started remembering old times, back when the ways of the world were much more confusing than they seemed to be at the current time. This was back when the lines of good and evil were not so clearly defined, when he infiltrated their ranks and fought alongside those demons of old. He understood their ways and was able to anticipate how their minds worked. Thus he was sure that as soon as the voice of that higher demon ceased to encourage the rest of them, retreat would follow. Those lower demons simply did not possess the ability to fight by themselves. On their own they were helpless.

So the entire time he was fighting with the demons, he also reached out his senses, searching for a power signature further out in the woods. The higher demon did quite a good job hiding itself because Orleans couldn't sense him anywhere. And with his thoughts elsewhere, he put himself straight in the line of fire, all too literally. A demon standing not ten feet away had shot a blast of flames right at him, and it was at that moment when Orleans settled his senses the position of that higher demon.

"I have you now." The waken hissed as he closed his eyes and disappeared, openly using a technique which he claimed impossible for his bloodline, and causing the flames to light all the demons still chasing behind him ablaze.

Orleans then reappeared right behind the higher demon that was hiding alone in the forest, far away from the battle. The wizard reached for his head with both hands, but the demon already sensed his appearance. That higher demon spun around surprised, and right away started reaching down for a weapon. But Orleans grabbed him by the wrist before he could reach it and slapped his other hand away before he shot any kind of fire at him. The demon snarled as it pulled its arm out from Orleans' grasp and extended a set of razor-sharp claws from each of his knuckles, swiping at the face of the wizard.

Moving back to dodge the strike, he allowed the demon's momentum to swing him around. Now at the demon's back the waken snatched his head from behind. Placing one hand on his chin and the other on his left horn, a single violent twist was all it took to snap that monster's neck in one quick motion!

The crack of the demon's spinal cord sounded out like the break of a tree trunk, followed by a brief sigh of relief from Orleans. He knew now that the lower demons would soon become confused and retreat. But he also knew that this only granted them a temporary peace, only enough time to gather the living before more demons returned to attack again with an even stronger force.

* * *

Back in the center of the massacre, the cowering warlock Slanded was growing tired of lying on his face and watching his fellow witches die around him. He could stand it no longer, and naturally had to do something about it, even if it meant his own death.

So he bravely jumped into action, pulling a pair of stone carved hand-axes from the still warm fingers of the fallen Elion and shouting, "Listen up, you flaming drakers! I will not allow you to kill anyone else!" As he got the demon's attention they began to turn towards him. That's when he started swinging.

The demon closest to him had ribs torn apart by one swing of those sharpened stone tips. The warlock stuck the next in the neck, spraying blood into the air. In a flash, Slanded had shot a blast of concentrated energy at another, burning a hole through its chest and knocking it back into the crowd. That's when he saw a fourth demon already charging wildly at him and drove one of those axes straight through its face!

After pulling that stone-chiseled tip out of the demon's skull, he watched all the other demons around him turn their backs and begin to run away. In response, Slanded began blasting random energy blasts at them as they fled.

"That is right, you draker sucking scum!" He howled out like a psychopath. "It's time to play a game! Find somewhere to hide before I count to ten... because this little foolheart's coming for your bones!"

All at once the demons began to disengage the witches and disappear into the forest. In turn, all the surviving witches were doing just as Slanded was and hurling energy blasts at their backs, taking out as many of them as they possibly could.

Orleans returned to them as the demons retreated with a look on his face that spoke for all the death he saw around him. The bodies of witches littered the dirt surrounding their feet, blood staining the landscape – one left burning in the fire with countless others still twitching helplessly as they clung to life for those last few seconds. He had no words to say, no rally cries of encouragement. What was there to even say after such a massacre? Even the word massacre couldn't describe what had just transpired.

As the leader of this group, Orleans – the one left responsible for all the lives stripped from existence on that night – all the slaughter left him with a sick feeling at the pit of his stomach for what he'd allowed to happen. His blame shot like venom through his veins, infected by all that had taken place. He was left wide eyed in shock, looking around painfully at those that had managed to keep themselves alive, seeing how few of them still stood and realizing how many he had ultimately lost. He felt as if he had failed them all. And maybe he had.

The waken's head soon hung low as everyone gathered around him, some still holding their swords tight, but all waiting to hear something from their leader, anything.

"What shall we do now?" Evette asked.

"I can't find my sister! What in all the furies just happened?" The young Tegan sounded out behind her. "She was right next to me, but... El, where are you?!"

Orleans had no answers for them, not a single one. He could only shake his head in disgrace and confusion.

So with his good friend still in shock, and the questions still flying at him, Marigny decided to step up and answer them. "What has just occurred here was a cowardly act by a race too afraid to fight us face to face!" He spoke as loud as his voice would allow, almost hoping the surviving demons were able to hear him. "Instead, the drakers had to attack us without warning and hope to take us all out before we could even gain our footing to fight back. And as much as I hate to admit it... I think all the bodies of the fallen show us that their plan, however dishonorable it may have been... it worked rather frening well."

Marigny was pacing back and forth now, with words guided by pure aggression as Lord Orleans stumbled off behind him in a daze, "But despite how well it might have worked, they _did not_ succeed! They did not kill us all! And if it were up to me... if I had to decide, I would not just walk away from this fight." He glanced back at Orleans. "I would hunt them down to the ends of..."

"This isn't over. They will return for us." Orleans spoke at last, cutting the fiery warlock off. "They will not stop until every one of us is dead."

"And that is why we must attack them first, before they have a chance to even try attacking us again." Marigny growled in return.

Orleans shook his head. "We cannot attack them." He held a solemn muscle in his voice. "We would be lucky enough to survive their next assault, let alone plot one of our own. We have already lost too many. It is too late. There is no chance for victory now."

The two of them looked into each other's eyes, Marigny's eyebrows slanted in confusion as to why Orleans would say that. In his eyes he saw nothing – no desperation, no energy, no fight at all.

"We could return to the elder's castle and ask for more fighters." Palmisano blurted out suddenly, confused himself as to why he said anything at all, and he couldn't help but duck his head down in embarrassment.

"They would not listen to us." Marigny stepped towards Palmisano, standing beside him. The wizard glanced at him as the warlock went on, "And it would leave those that remained behind vulnerable for another attack. Like Lord Orleans said, they won't stop coming until we are all lying in the dirt next to our friends here."

Palmisano was not one to argue, but something in the tone of Marigny's voice just aggravated him. He looked at the young warlock, one of his eyebrows raised in confusion. "So we're, what... supposed to remain here and let them kill us all?"

"Of course not," Marigny shouted, turning to the rest of the witches, "We fight back!"

The crowd around them burst into a sudden cheer, swords waving in the air.

Palmisano looked around in shock at the change in morale, and for some reason it pissed him off. "So now you are all ready to fight!?" The young wizard complained to the witches, no longer hiding his opinions. "Where in all of fury was this passion while we still had demons around to kill? Maybe it would have saved a few lives. But instead you all wait until the enemy has left, and all our brothers and sisters are dead, to show this fighting spirit?! We are all lucky to have survived, and if not for Lord Orleans, we would not have. So if two hundred witches didn't stand a chance against them, what makes any of us think we can do anything without them?"

"We were ambushed! It was not a fair fight!" A voice yelled out from the crowd.

"Exactly," Marigny pointed out in agreement.

Palmisano shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "We still got slaughtered... and no excuse will frening change that. They were too strong for us a few minutes ago. Thus they will be even stronger now that they have crippled us. It only makes sense."

"Who in fury are you, anyway?!" The voice of Solari called out.

"Yeah, why should we be listening to you?" Wyrus of the clan Venderin asked from the crowd.

"You aren't our leader," yelled his clan brother, Suvilus.

Palmisano glanced over at Marigny as the questions kept coming, wandering why he wasn't saying anything. The warlock only smiled at him and shrugged his shoulders, as if to say _'you started talking, I can't stop them now'_.

"Well, _he_ isn't your leader, either." The young wizard pointed out, motioning to Marigny. "I don't know how else to get this across! But we cannot win this war without more witches to help us. That is all I was trying to say. I'm sorry that I think that, but if anyone here believes they can take on these demons alone, you can go and get yourselves killed. I won't try and stop you."

Marigny was smiling as he stood beside Palmisano, wrapping his fingers around his shoulder. "I could kill any number of demons at any time, with my bare hands." He said it right to Palmisano's face, causing the crowd to once again erupt.

"What in fury are you doing to me?" Palmisano asked him beneath the cheers, trying to keep everyone else out of it.

"You did it to yourself. I am doing nothing." Marigny spoke out of the side of his mouth as he raised his arms to keep the cheers coming. "But don't take anything personally. Just go with it."

"Go with what?"

Marigny ignored him, lowering his arms to quiet everyone. "I know for a fact that everyone here has the ability to survive against the demons. That is the exact frening reason we are still standing right now." After a quick wink at Palmisano, he went on, "And I know that together we can defeat any army that stands in our way. So you should just hush your mouth if you are too afraid to fight alongside us. You can run back to the Elders while we make history... and wipe out an entire army of demons by ourselves."

Palmisano tilted his head to stare the warlock right in the eyes, confused as to why he was being used to motivate the fighters, but wasn't going to hold his tongue because of it. "Can you not see that such arrogance could get you frening killed out here?" He spoke as seriously as possible.

Marigny let the smile fade from his lips as he stared back at Palmisano. "Well," he waited a moment before saying anything else, "I guess that's just too bad for me... because it will be my arrogance that trembles beneath their feet when I lead us to our victory!" As he shouted, and the crowd erupted once more, a large smile crossed his face again, his complete attention on the young wizard beside him.

The two of them never broke eye contact, and the tension between them thickened with each passing second.

But that's when Orleans decided to open his mouth as he stepped between them. "Marigny may be right." He spoke in a very somber tone, obviously still affected by all that had transpired. He tried not to pay attention to the bodies left carved up in the surrounding dirt. "It is true that we have suffered a great loss today, one unlike any I have ever witnessed in battle. But... I do believe that with the correct actions, we may be able to overthrow the leadership that the demons have instated here. If we could somehow avoid these masses of lower demons and find those in control, the higher demons, and kill them... maybe we still have a chance at defeating them after all."

"Then it has been settled." Marigny sounded excited. "We remain and fight."

The crowd cheered again as Palmisano turned to walk away. "This is wrong." He grumbled to himself, "And frening ignorant."

But Marigny turned and chased after him, hoping over and around bodies as he did. "Hold up," he stopped him, "Just give me a moment to explain."

Palmisano turned around, almost in a fit. "Look, we have nothing to talk about." He told him forcefully, "You made a fool of me in front of everyone and didn't seem to care about anything that I was saying. You used my argument to prove your point, which is going to get everyone killed."

"I did not mean to make you look incompetent, and I apologize if I did. But I only meant to instill a bit hope into everyone." Marigny explained.

"Well it seems you walk a fine line between hope and ignorance." Palmisano was blunt about it. "We alone cannot win this fight. This war will be much bigger than this one stupid battle. We should take our losses and live to fight another day."

"Well, it seems that you're in need of a little hope, yourself," the warlock stated with an encouraging smile.

The face of the young wizard, though, found himself too weighed down by all the death for his lips to rise. "There is no hope for us, not here." He told him openly before turning to walk away.

But Marigny ran around and stepped in front of him. "Honestly, will you just hear me out? Come and listen in while we figure out a plan of action, and maybe after you see how easy it will be, you can get yourself into a better mood. I saw you out there on that battlefield. I fought alongside you, and if you're going to force me to say it, then... I must admit that we cannot afford to lose someone of your ability."

"My ability alone will not be enough." Palmisano made clear, "We should at least try to ask for help."

"But we cannot." He tried to make him understand, "The Elders are not as forgiving as you may think. We cannot simply return to them two weeks after leaving them in defeat. What would that say about us?"

"It would say we got frening ambushed." The young wizard answered him simply. "It would say they attacked us from behind with most getting killed before even being able to turn around. You even said it."

"That will not matter to our Elders. We should have sensed the demon's approach. I still don't know how so many managed to stay hidden from us, and they will point that out before sending us back into battle in shame."

Palmisano shook his head. "You cannot allow your arrogance to get us all killed."

"I assure you... that arrogance of mine is well deserved." The young warlock said as he slapped the wizard on the back. "Just settle down, alright. We _will_ survive this."

Palmisano was still shaking his head as he walked with him, getting a count of the living, counting twenty-nine total survivors. Orleans let them all rest while he, Marigny, Boyle and Palmisano went off to the side to discuss how they should attack the demons in the safest way possible. As they did, the young Slanded approached Tegan as she searched for her sister.

His eyes were already swelling with tears from the guilt he felt as he asked her, "It was Elion, right, your sister?"

As Tegan turned to see the look on his face, her eyes began to swell up, as well. "You're the warlock she liked so much." Her voice became broken even further as she interpreted the look she saw stained upon his face. "You... you saw her die, didn't you... didn't you?"

As the young warlock nodded his head with regret, without warning he was slapped across the face. "You frening draker!" Tegan screamed out loud as tears burst from her eyes. "You frening coward! Why didn't you save her?!" She began pounding on his chest, Slanded not even trying to stop her. "Why didn't you frening save her?!"

Evette was the one to pull her away, taking the young witch into her arms and giving her the shoulder she so desperately needed to cry on.

# (Part 2)

# (In The Middle of Madness)

It was the day after the demons had ambushed the witches, leaving their ranks crippled. Lord Orleans and Marigny had spoken with Palmisano and Boyle all night, about what would be the best way to lead a retaliatory strike. Luckily, Orleans provided everyone with an advantage of understanding the demon ways better than anyone else, as the waken already knew they would attack again as soon as night fell. So by the time the sun was at its peak in the sky, the witches already knew what they doing. But that decision was not easy to come by.

"Alright, so we know that our assault must begin before nightfall," Boyle said, "But even with only twenty-nine of us left, I believe we can still split into two separate groups. It's the only way I see this working."

"I disagree." Orleans dismissed it quickly. "I've said it from the start... I do not believe splitting up to be a good idea. Our numbers are small enough to begin with."

This left Boyle shaking his head, but now Palmisano had a curious look in his eye, sparking that mind of his with an idea worthy of Marigny's approval. "No, wait... he might be onto something." The young wizard stepped up. "As long as we are able to distribute our power properly, then... maybe separating would only make us stronger."

"I do not want to hear of it any longer." Orleans said, nearly ordering him to keep his mouth shut.

But, "No, wait." Marigny cut in. "As crazy as it sounds," he was nodding his head in understanding, "The Kindlefell might actually be making some sense of our current predicament... at last... and I think I know where he's going." The warlock began explaining with his hands, "If we split into two groups to better distribute our power, as he was saying, then we could have a larger group with the less powerful fighters and a small group for the strongest among us. This would allow us to have the larger group take care of the low level drakers while the smaller group moves further into the city to seek out the higher scum. It might work... if executed properly."

After thinking it over for several minutes, Orleans agreed to it, leaving Marigny and Palmisano to split the team into two groups before starting to arguing over who would be going with them to fight the higher demons.

To their surprise, it seemed they both worked their way to the same conclusion about who the strongest among them were. They both agreed on the twins, Hani and Yani, as well as the foreborn Shaydince. Marigny had insisted on selecting the warlock Dogru, and they had each decided on two others, the willborn Vayence and the young wizard Solari. Palmisano had not paid much attention to them, but Marigny assured him they would not disappoint.

They had also decided on the oldest wizard behind Orleans, the wakenwide Boyle, to lead the larger group against the lower demons. They felt it only fair to give him a bit of control, since it was his idea to split everyone up in the first place. The older wizard had never led before, but had fought alongside Orleans many times. Marigny believed him more than capable of leading the assault.

So with the sun beginning its descent towards the horizon, they were ready to strike back against the monsters trying to lay claim to their Terra. They weren't sure where their enemies were hiding, but they figured if they began moving in the direction of the city it wouldn't be long before the demons found them.

So they set off into the Short Forest, heading south for the coast. And it wasn't long until the edge of the trees could be seen, with the remnants of the outlying city directly in front of them. But right before they stepped out into the open field, Marigny held his hand out to stop everyone from moving any further, putting his finger to his lips to quiet them.

Just beyond the tree line he could see the demons gathering. They looked like the same ones from the previous night – with their big insect-heads and their shortened but bulging-with-muscle bodies – and they looked as if they were gathering in preparation for their attack at sundown.

The group of witches sat squatted in silence not fifty yards away from them, gathering their wits. But from the right of the gathering horde, out stalked a different sort of demon. Though it seemed to be about the same height as the lower demons, a heavy gut hung below its waist, and three horns extended from its skull – one on each side of its forehead, twisted and pointed downwards, with the third pointed straight up between those two, shorter and further atop its skull. It had to be one of the higher demons Orleans had spoke about, Marigny figured right away. But while this monstrosity of a creature circled what must have been his team of fighters, his eyes became fixated on the trees. Then, with a grunt, the demon turned and began to walk towards the forest, staring right at the witches.

"Who is it I see behind those trees?" the demon asked in a snarl, speaking in clear though grunted basic Terran, which was conveniently modern day English, the language adopted by witches of long ago for reasons that not even I fully comprehend.

Marigny did not let anyone answer it, though, hoping the demon would forget about it when only silence answered back. But this demon was far too curious.

"I know someone is there!" It called out, "Your scent is wretched. Now, show yourself before we have to burn down this entire forest just to find you!"

Marigny motioned for everyone to stay where they were, and he stepped out from the trees alone.

The demon's first reaction was to laugh at him. "Mighty brave for a lone warlock," he said, "Then again, maybe you're just dumb. After all, is ignorance not what they named you for, _Foolheart_?!"

Marigny's veins were visibly throbbing in his neck, but he gave no reply.

"If I had known you were all that remained after last night, I would not have brought such a mighty force with me. What is there even to destroy?" The demon groaned before smiling. "But I haven't overindulged myself in quite a long time. Maybe we can still make some fun of this, yet."

Marigny smiled at him in return. "Oh, you want fun? Well, you should've brought a few more of your friends if you were thinking about a party."

After a moment of curious contemplation, the demon burst into a rumbling laughter. "You are a rather entertaining foolheart, indeed. But it doesn't seem you know who I am."

"Nor do I care," Marigny confirmed, seeming to aggravate the husky demon.

"Well, you will!" The demon groaned out loud, flipping up into the air and landing back on his feet not fifteen feet in front of his opponent, showing great agility for such a heavy creature. The warlock took a quick step back, surprised by it, but remained ready for the fight to begin. Several witches began to make a move to defend him, but Orleans raised his hand as he looked back at them to stop.

They watched on in confused amusement as the demon introduced himself, "I am the mighty demon Vhadaokod!" The demon pointed both of his clawed excuses for thumbs at himself, now stepping closer to Marigny. Stopping to flex his arms, bringing his knuckles to touch each other in front of his stomach, "I am the bringer of devastation!" Stomping his left foot on the ground, then his right, "I am the walking taker of life, the reaper of death itself!" Vhadaokod pounded on his chest with both hands. "I burn the innocent alive and beat the guilty to death with my bare fists!"

Now he was leaping up to back flip into the air, landing back in front of his lower demons holding out his arms to each side, "Bid greetings to my army... from which no one escapes our wrath!"

Those extended claws pointed his index finger right at the lone warlock. "And you will simply be the next splatter of blood that we leave behind on our path to world domination!"

Marigny waited a moment to make sure he'd finished before letting out a slight chuckle. "You are rather entertaining yourself, Vadoko-whatever."

"Vhadaokod!" The demon corrected, yelling it back at him, "Vhadaokod!"

"Like I said... whatever," Marigny repeated as he shook his head, speaking with confidence. "Your name matters not, for I will crush you regardless of what you call yourself. Fury, by the look of you, I won't even have to. Something tells me your own arrogance will be just enough to get you killed." As the demon's head tilted to the side, the warlock gloated further. "I guess what I'm really saying is... you are so frening powerless that you are not even worth the swing of my fist."

"And, what, is that supposed to make me feel lucky?!" Vhadaokod asked.

"No," Marigny clarified with a smile. "It should make you feel nervous... very nervous, because it is not only _my_ fist you have to worry about."

The young warlock raised his arm into the air and swung it forward, signaling for all of the witches to come charging out of the forest.

But Vhadaokod just laughed. "I should have known you were not alone, not like it matters. We will end you all in no time at all."

Marigny was leading the charge of those witches, with Orleans and Palmisano flanking out beside him.

"Get ready," Orleans called out to his forces as they spread out as wide as they could, running as fast as traction would allow.

The demons were standing in a line much thicker than the line of witches, with Vhadaokod out in front, but it slowed none of them down, not a bit.

As they charged, "Collective energy murder blast of destruction, _fire_ ," the demon leader screamed out loud.

Then, all at once, every demon on the front line launched a flaming blue stream of fire-like energy from their hands. All those separate blasts became combined into one gigantic ball of burning green flame, barreling towards the witches.

"Now, jump now!" Marigny yelled out as he leapt high into the air, all the other witches floating up right behind him. The burning wave of green energy flew by underneath them as they ascended in the air. And while the witches were at the peak of their jump, they all faced their palms down at the demons, each lining up a different one in their sights.

"Stand aware, fools!" Vhadaokod yelled out, pointing up at the sky. "The cowards attack from above! Move! Get out of my way!"

Vhadaokod pushed away from his own army as the blasts began to fall from the sky. Each flare of terra was a different color, like a wonderfully brilliant rainbow falling violently down onto the demons below, ripping through their bodies and tearing one after another to pieces!

Twenty-nine demons dropped onto the ground the next instant, most in pieces, but Vhadaokod was still alive even though Marigny had aimed at him, only because he literally ducked behind one of his own demons and allowed Marigny's blast to slice through that demon's torso instead of his. But the others had directed their blasts towards the center of the crowd, and that was by design. They needed to clear a spot for them to drop down into.

The second they hit the ground the demons came at them from all sides, Vhadaokod's voice in the background, yelling, "Get them! Do not allow the trash to take another step!"

The witches were ready for the chaos, though, forming a quick circle and simply allowing the beasts to come at them. Everyone was precise with their attacks, killing a demon every swing of their swords, all which came close to them, with none straying farther than their own reach would allow them. They made sure not to break rank and allow any demons inside their formation, where they were hiding the witch Shaydince. She was at the center of their circle, conjuring up a large ball of energy.

The witches felt the heat of that energy at their backs as Shaydince used all the surrounding death to continually feed the ball into a larger and larger mass. But none of those demons paid any mind to the glowing light sneaking out from behind the witch's circular formation.

Vhadaokod came running at the circle, right at Marigny. "I hope you are ready to die, Foolheart!"

Then the voice of Shaydince came from the circle's center, "Jump!"

"What?" Vhadaokod groaned in confusion as he slid to a stop in the dirt, watching Marigny smile as all the witches leapt up into the air again. His eyes soon grew wide once he saw what they left behind.

"How in tartarus did no one see that thing?!" He roared with annoyance as he stared at the giant ball of throbbing yellow energy that stood taller than him. It sat glowing upon the ground, pulsating as the witches hung in the air above it. He could only watch as Shaydince formed a small ball of energy in her left hand and tossed it down at the big one.

"Get away! Get the fury out of here, all of you!" Vhadaokod yelled as he pushed passed his own army to get away from the ball as it exploded outwards from all sides.

The enormous blast ripped through every demon within fifty yards of its center, hundreds of the beasts disintegrated into tiny particles at once. But somehow Vhadaokod had jumped away from it, high into the air to avoid it. He passed Marigny and the other witches as they dropped back down to the ground, yelling down at them as he did. "You will all pay for this!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, pointing down at them. "Don't you dare consider this a victory, not in any sense of the word!"

The angered beast dropped back down right in front of the witch crowd, stepping up with confidence, chest poked out to make him seem larger. "None of you will survive our wrath!" The comment did nothing but make Marigny laugh.

"You know, you are still just as weak, no matter how far you can stick out that stubby little chest of yours."

"Fool! Shut those fury flapping lips!" The higher demon growled again. "Your show of lights may have been pretty to the eyes, but your powers are no match for those that I and my fellow warriors possess. You are all far outnumbered and stand no chance against us. All who stand here will be named the next victims of the great Vhadaokod, and his mighty army! It will be us... yes, us, who will go down in history, while all of you will merely go down to your knees, where you frening belong! This is our world now! And it would serve you best to realize that and stop fighting while you still have heads left to bow before us!" Vhadaokod was yelling out with great anger, his words filled with conceit. "And if you can't figure out how to find your place in this new world on your own, then we could always lop your legs at the knees to force you there! Isn't that right, Gataghbo?" As he waited for a response, a smile crept across his face. But after he got no reply, he turned around, calling for his fellow demon again, "Gataghbo?" As he did, though, his smile was stripped away.

Vhadaokod saw nothing behind him, no one at all to back him up, each one already wiped out by the energy ball explosion of Shaydince.

"Damn it to the depths of tartarus!" The demon growled under his breath, not even turning back around to face the witches. Then he ran the other way. "This is not the last you will hear of me, witches, not even close!" He called back to them as he disappeared into the city. "So prepare your knees for my return if you wish to survive! This dirt will be your only future – either kneeling upon it or buried beneath it!"

The witches let Vhadaokod get away, not even bothering to chase after him as his groans faded away in the distance. Boyle was first to approach Orleans, and with high hopes after all the commotion, "Well, that did turn out quite fun, didn't it?"

Orleans wasn't sure what to say after that, only shrugging his shoulders with a huff. "Yes, well... I guess you can take it from here."

"Definitely... especially if they are all that ignorant," Boyle commented, chuckling.

Orleans just nodded his head as everyone separated themselves into two different groups.

"Shall the fates shine luck upon you," Boyle said to Orleans once everyone was in position.

"And you, as well, old friend," Orleans told Boyle in return, slapping him on the shoulder before turning away and taking the lead of his smaller group.

Boyle, in turn, led his larger group out ahead of Orleans. The city was not far away from them – just up a small hill – but before they could even get close to it, there came another wave of demons charging down that hill, straight towards them.

* * *

As Boyle watched the horde of demons tumbling over the hill, with a quick nod back at Orleans he pointed to the trees. "Within their shade we will find our advantage! Everyone, to the trees, now!" Boyle led his team back into the forest, making the demons chase them and allowing Orleans and his group to get away unseen.

Orleans and Marigny led their group away from the charging demons. They navigated their way quietly up the hill and into the center city of Halflore, a settlement established long ago by the native witches of this land. Once a proud community where witches groomed hominids to become worthy servants of the mother Terra, it was hardly even noticeable any longer.

The witches led by Orleans noticed right away how that city looked all too similar to the outer village, most of it already burned to the ground, with many of its stone buildings reduced to nothing more than piles of dust. There seemed to be no life left there either, the entire city left deserted. But that was nothing that Orleans did not expect. He had no doubt that the demons had already killed everyone that had lived here. The only thing that confused him was that he had not seen a dead body yet. Besides those of his own fighters, he couldn't even find a charred remnant of one.

Regardless, they made their way briskly through the wreckage of the former city with the intentions of making it to the castle, but always were their eyes left open for any sudden movements around them. So with their eyes darting nervously from side to side, it was their ears that caught wind of an all too familiar voice.

"Progress no further, witches!" The voice of Vhadaokod growled out loud, and that's when he appeared from around one of the buildings still left standing. "No one makes a fool of me and lives to tell anyone about it. No one! Your attempt to reach the castle ends here! And besides, there's nothing left to save, anyway! So acting like heroes will only get you killed! Any goals of saving your precious Terra will be thwarted, and it will be I, the all powerful Vhadaokod, who will..."

"Oh, shut this frening shit up already, please!" Marigny cut his words short, "You cannot possibly believe all the things you say about yourself – all of that ridiculous, bloat-headed blabber that spills out of that shit-hole you call a mouth! So, please, just shut it the fury closed already! If you have come here to fight, don't stand there and flatter yourself again, simply attack us and show us you're worth more than that pathetic show you gave us earlier!"

"Oh, I intend to attack." Vhadaokod told him with a widening smile. "But know that I will not do so alone."

Motioning with his hand while keeping his eyes on the witches, the overjoyed monster summoned forth rows of demons from around the building. The sounds of their clawed feet scraped against the stone street as these new demons lined up behind Vhadaokod. That sound was gruesome by itself... like the clink of a fingernail against a glass followed by those same nails scrapping against a chalkboard. Just a nonstop clink, scratch, clink, scratch, over and over again, until they had all formed into wide lines of assembly.

These new demons were noticeably different from him and definitely different from those that attacked a few moments ago. Their heads were much smaller and more rounded with large shoulders that bulged above them. They were shorter than Vhadaokod and the other lower demons but seemed to be much more muscular, probably faster, and didn't look to be nearly as much fun. Dozens of them, possibly hundreds, lined up behind Vhadaokod, with one of them stepping up to stand beside him. It was hard to tell if he was a higher demon or not, but his Terran language came out just as clear as Vhadaokod's.

"My name is Shagtou," The new demon introduced himself in a deep groan. "And you will now suffer the unblemished wrath of a power combination like none other in existence. This is our city now! And it will soon too be our world!"

"Prepare to meet your end!" Vhadaokod yelled out.

"Ready yourselves for death!" Shagtou sounded off.

"By the furies, now there are two of them," Marigny hissed while dropping his head into his hands, disgusted by the sound of it.

"What kind of hostile frening takeover is this, anyway?" Palmisano asked from beside him.

"Do not underestimate our might!" Shagtou hollered.

"And don't you dare expect an easy fight!" Vhadaokod continued the sentence.

"Because only your death will fill our appetite," Shagtou finished it with an all too evil chuckle.

"Great! Now they're finishing each other's frening sentences." Marigny moaned in disgust.

"It is rather cute, though." Shaydince had to admit as she stood next to him, shrugging her shoulders as Marigny growled aloud.

The warlock turned his attention to Palmisano to moan his displeasure, then out of nowhere pulled his sword from its sheath and pointed it at the demons. His head followed as he swung himself around to face them, the sword shaking as he held it. "What the fury sort of demons are you?!" He asked them as his voice cracked with annoyance. "You rhyme one more frening time... and I frening swear... I'll beat you both to death with my bare frening fists."

"I'm sorry... but we are the greatest warriors of all time!" Vhadaokod shouted louder than before.

"The absolute most powerful of our kind," Shagtou finished his sentence, causing Marigny's face to twitch.

"Your end has now been reached, your last and final dance!" Shagtou said.

"That sword you hold your only chance!" Vhadaokod followed behind him.

And next they broke into full tune.

"Vhadaokod!"

"Shagtou!"

They each shouted, pointing at the witches, then in unison sang aloud, "Here to set ablaze your town! Turning smiles into frowns! _So staaand_ back, you're going down!"

"Frening demons," Marigny snarled as he stood in complete stupor, his upper lip twitching as he stared in disgust at the both of them... and they kept going.

"Waves of fire we will shoot!"

"Make you cry, make you die, bury you below the sky!"

"Then all your graves we will pollute!"

"Get ready, because here we come!"

"Vhadaokod!"

"Shagtou!"

The two demons shouted separately before clasping hands and stating together, "Always here to ruin your fun!"

Marigny had dropped his sword down to his side and was rubbing his forehead, his annoyance now turning into physical pain. "What in all of fury is this? Where the fury are we, anyway?!" He was growling, now swinging that sword all around before stabbing it into the dirt. "If this is meant to be some kind of joke, let me kill whoever thought of it now... because it's not frening funny! This is not a child's game! This is war! And I have seen enough of this frening nonsense! Attack me, damn it! I am unarmed!" The warlock tried to tempt them into an attack.

"You should be mindful of what you wish for, Foolheart!" Vhadaokod warned.

"Because you just may get it," Shagtou finished the sentence slowly, throwing his arm forward.

The roar of all the demons that stood behind them filled the air with a heavy weight as all of them came charging past them.

"Perfect!" Marigny growled as he stood out in front, a wicked smile lifting his lips as he made sure his weapon was held firm within the soil, separating himself from the charging demons. "Stand back now, all of you!" He yelled out to his fellow witches.

The fool-hearted warlock leapt up gracefully to balance on the butt of his sword, holding his hands down to face the enemy. He waited for that enemy to get closer before launching a wave of concentrated energy, and from right to left he carved out a semi-circle – ten feet deep and over fifty feet long – into the ground right at the feet of the demons. Almost instantly they began to tumble down into the rut he had dug.

Marigny then hopped back down, laughing as the ignorant creatures continued to pile one on top of another into his hole.

"We should leave while we have the chance," Marigny urged as he turned back towards his team.

The witches could hear the voices of Vhadaokod and Shagtou in the background, screaming at their demon followers. "Stop! Cease, you fools!"

"What are you doing? You are killing yourselves! Stop now!"

"For the sake of sin! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" Vhadaokod was cursing like a hurricane dumped rain. "Skagt'ah, witches! I will find you! Do not think I am done with you yet! I will find you again!"

The witches hurried around the pile of demons, swinging their swords to kill the ones on top, making it harder for those at the bottom to crawl out.

The southern edge of Halflore was positioned on the edge of another hill, one that looked out into the uncharted ocean. So as they raced to its peak they were able to look down and see the castle along the coast, one built by the former wizard gone mad, Bellborn the Tyrant.

"Finally, we are here!" The young Solari yelled out, "At long last I can finally attain my revenge! These footsteps will stain my family bloodline no longer!" And then he began running alone down the hill.

"Wait, Solari!" Orleans yelled out to him, trying to stop him. "We cannot rush into this!"

Palmisano looked over at Marigny with his eyebrows raised. Marigny was shaking his head with regret for having selected the young wizard to accompany them.

The warlock knew of his history with the demons, how his ancestors made a mockery of their heritage by aiding them in their original conquest, and realized he may have made a mistake.

The young Solari was born into a bloodline of traitors, a family forever cursed to live out their lives alone in the unforgiving tundra of the north. As a young child, his parents cast him away with hopes of a better life. Equipped only with the stories of his family, a will to attain his revenge and his family trident, he forever hoped to make right all the wrongs blamed on his ancestors. And apparently he believed this trident alone could wipe away that curse completely.

Marigny only realized after it was already too late, that the young wizard's emotions may have blinded him from their ultimate objective.

"He is going to get himself killed!" Shaydince was suddenly chasing after him.

"Shaydince, no!" Orleans reached out but had her squeeze around him to run after Solari.

"We must not stray from our goal!" Palmisano called out.

Marigny was shaking his head. "I believe we already have. So we either attack now, blindly and without a plan, or we let the opportunity pass us by and lose two of our best fighters."

After a brief moment of contemplation, Orleans made his decision, however reluctant it may have been. "We attack!" He shouted. "I want a sword in every demon's chest!"

The small group of witches ran down the hill, Shaydince ahead of them and Solari already at the bottom, already far ahead of her. As they charged down the hill, they watched as the gates that surrounded the castle opened and a small wave of demons came out. Solari was nothing more than a tiny dot on a barren landscape compared to the mighty mass of demons that blotted out the green of the grass. But despite their numbers Orleans felt a small sense of accomplishment.

All the demons down there were nothing compared to what he'd expected. He was ready to take on an entire army of these drakers with only nine fighters, an equation reduced greatly thank to Marigny. Those last demons had seemed quite intimidating. Not even he had seen a breed such as that before, and they seemed to number far into the hundreds. Had it not been for Marigny digging them all an early grave, quite literally, they may never have even made it up this hill they were now running down in the first place. He knew that by them putting that fool Vhadaokod to shame, it forced his ego to bring the last resorts out before they should have been, and with Boyle and the others fighting with more of the demons back in the forest, they seemed to be fresh out of reinforcements.

They watched Solari send out a huge blast of blue energy, igniting that first line of demons and knocking their burning corpses back into the rest of them. Shaydince then came behind him and hurled a huge gust of hurricane force wind that knocked the off balance demons onto their rear ends. Now the demons in front of the pack were being trampled by those charging aimlessly from the rear.

Shaydince was still weak after forming that energy ball earlier, unable to defend herself properly against the rushing demons. So with Solari in his blind rage, not even thinking to help the witch that had rushed in to help him, she placed herself behind him and hoped he could defend them both for long enough. Solari did help by slashing in half every demon that came near him, but a few at a time were managing to sneak past. Shaydince was controlling the surrounding air, forming gusts of wind to knock the demons away, but she was growing more tired with each gust, and did not sense the demon that came lunging from her side.

The silent warlock Dogru, on the other hand, did see it. He was the first of the other witches to arrive, and he slashed the torso of the demon that was diving at Shaydince in half while it was in mid-air. The force sent the demon's upper half flying over the head of Shaydince, with the blood raining down upon her drawing her attention to Dogru.

"Oh, how sweet... all this gore just for me?" she asked him with a smile, nodding her thanks. "I knew you thought I was pretty."

Dogru met her gaze without saying a word before moving deeper into the ranks of attacking demons, his hood never leaving his head.

All the witches found themselves fully engaged in combat with the demons now, and there was no turning back from this point forward. With all of them together they began to make short work of the lower level demons.

The twins were moving through them with ease, slicing off limbs and whatever else got in the way of their blades. Palmisano and Marigny remained beside each other as they moved through the crowd, their attacks beginning to meld together. While the witch Vayence remained at the sides of Shaydince and Dogru on the outskirts of all the fighting.

Their leader had no plans on getting too involved with these demons. Knowing it was only a matter of time before his assault forced the other higher demons to show themselves, he was waiting for their arrival and their arrival alone. But right when things were beginning to look good, just as his fighters were in complete control of this fight, he heard the last voice he wanted to hear calling out from atop the hill behind him.

"I have you now, witches!" Vhadaokod screamed out from the top of the hill, Shagtou stepping up next to him, "There will be no escape for you this time!"

All the other demons, the ones that had managed to climb out of the hole that Marigny had put them in, began to gather beside the two higher demons and charge down the hill towards the witches. Orleans was glad to see they were only about half of what they were, but still didn't look forward to fighting them. The wizard knew these mutated demons would not fall easily, not like these lower demons his fighters were blazing through on the opposite side of him.

The roar of these new demons fit well with the trampling of their feet to strike immediate fear into most anyone. But Orleans was ready for them. And he was glad that Marigny was too far away to hear the battle cries of Vhadaokod, knowing it would only distract him.

Shaydince was standing beside him, with Vayence next to her, and they were all that stood between the oncoming demons and the battle behind them.

"I'm having trouble finding any sort of positives in this," Shaydince admitted as her eyes opened wide, "So... any ideas on what we're going to do?"

Orleans could feel her heart pounding with nervousness from where he stood. "For now... the two of us are going to keep each other alive," he assured her with confidence, never taking his eyes off the demons for a second.

The two witches nodded as the demons reached the bottom of the hill, watching as they stormed straight towards them, all with swords, stone and steel alike held high in the air.

Palmisano stepped up beside them at the last moment, with Marigny right behind him.

"Aim for their frening hearts!" Palmisano reminded everyone as the demons got closer, their roar almost muting out all sound. "Each swing, another draker in the dirt!"

"I cannot believe I did not kill this fool when I had the chance!" Marigny complained alongside him. "But don't worry. He will not hold breathe for much longer!"

"Enough, Marigny, we must do this together!" Palmisano stopped him. "Aim steady, avoid the high strike, everyone together. Ready... now!"

Four of them shot energy blasts at the chests of the front line, cutting through their ranks while Shaydince launched forward to gather up several of them with a large gust of wind and toss them further back into the pile.

"Get back!" Palmisano told Shaydince, and she jumped back into line as they launched another set of energy attacks at the demons, ripping through several more rows of them.

But soon the demons were on top of them, leaving the witches smothered by their numbers. It forced everyone to fend for themselves, but Orleans tried to keep everyone helping each other.

Vayence did her best to stay by the side of Shaydince, but the moving wall of demons pushed her away.

Shaydince was having trouble keeping up with the speed of these new demons. Being attacked from all sides, the congestion forced her to swirl up a quick tornado of dust just to give her a moment to catch a breath. More demons were coming at her the very next second, though, bringing her duel sickles around as she readied to fight them when, in a flash, they were all dropped into the dirt, blood spraying into the air.

Her eyes spun around to find Dogru standing beside the falling corpses, sword extended and dripping with blood, and this time told him with no tone of flirtatious sarcasm in her voice at all, "Thank you."

He looked at her from beneath his hood, swinging his sword to the side to slash through the chest of another charging demon, never breaking his gaze into her eyes. The warlock and the witch stared at each other from across the battlefield, their gaze broken only by more demons as they filled in the space between them. But Shaydince was still having trouble fighting with these new demons, blocking and jumping away from their swords as they swung from every direction.

Dogru was making sure that each swing of his blade dropped another demon to the dirt. The warlock was watching each one of their movements as they came at him, focusing on dodging their first strike and landing his own death blow. The warlock side stepped and ducked under strikes, moving fast and staying low to drive his own sword through the hearts of the demons. After working his way over to Shaydince once again he splayed the demon that was attacking her wide open. Those two kept close to each other from that point on. Shaydince knew that she could not survive this battle without him.

Marigny and Palmisano were also sticking together. The demons were dropping dead all around them as they spun around, absolutely in sync. Each of them wielded their blades with deadly precision, slicing through body parts and major organs with acute accuracy.

"I have to find that idiot and kill him before he runs away again!" Marigny told Palmisano as he spun around and slashed half the chest off of a demon, referring to Vhadaokod.

"Only patience will bring you your prize!" Palmisano called back to him as he drove his own sword through the abdomen of another. "As long as you maintain your focus in all of this madness, the opportunity will eventually present itself!"

Marigny looked over at the young wizard, "Well, it had better happen soon!"

Slashing off both the arms of one demon and kicking its body back into another one, the warlock burned a hole through both of their chests with the small energy shot he sent out of his hand.

"I'm getting bored!" Marigny complained, with Palmisano smiling at him with surprise as he smacked a charging demon across the face with the flat side of his sword and slashed it across the back.

Another pair of witches that fought together also began their own lives as a team: the twins. Those two were at last entering into the mayhem with the new demons, leaving Solari to finish the last of the lower demons by himself. The two of them ran past Orleans side by side, stepping apart from each other as they reached the edges of the mass holding two swords between them, the tips of each touching the other. With a single mind they ran through several demons along the outskirts of the fighting, slicing them to pieces. The twins continued to run around the outer rim of the mayhem, keeping out of the confusion and placing the odds more in their favor by keeping all the demons in front of them.

While they were doing that, the young Solari swung his giant trident and smacked one in the head before swinging himself around and splattering the face of another with the red of his terra.

Spinning his weapon around as he looked at the last eight lower demons remaining around him, the young wizard was laughing out loud as he stabbed that trident into the ground. The impact sent a shockwave of energy outward and ignited half of them in blue flame as the ground beneath their feet exploded. Another one came running at him from his right side, prompting Solari to pull his trident from the dirt to stick those three points into the charging beast and fling it up into the air!

The demon flipped back and landed on top of its head. Solari used the moment to spin around to his left and slash into the chest of the next oncoming monster. Cracking ribs shattered out loud and Solari took that demon as a weapon, whipping it around across the back of another's head to send them both down into the dirt!

Two more were both charging from each side, and the young wizard waited until he could feel their breath on his neck before he took an abrupt back-step. The two demons slammed into each other and staggered apart. That's when Solari stabbed them both with one thrust of his family weapon.

As those last two demons crumbled to the ground together, Solari stood with one foot on their backs to howl out in victory.

Orleans was stuck fighting on the outskirts of the battle when he happened to look back as he heard the courageous yelping of Solari. The seasoned wizard warrior spotted his younger counterpart standing over the fallen demons, his arms raised up in victory. The older wizard understood how the future of his entire bloodline had rested upon that poor kindlefell's shoulders. And at last he had atoned for the betrayal of his ancestors. As Solari shouted out to the darkening sky, calling out to the fates themselves to forgive him, Orleans watched as those gates behind the young sorcerer cracked open ever so slightly, allowing a small, muscular demon to slip out.

The veins of this demon were bulging out from the skin of his arms, legs and chest. With two horns that stuck straight out of his forehead above each boney eyebrow, it was without a doubt one of the higher demons. In turn Orleans began pointing rapidly behind Solari and yelling, trying to warn the wizard away, "Be on guard, damn it, behind you! The higher demon has shown itself!"

But Solari didn't hear anything he was saying. "I know!" The young sorcerer yelled back to Orleans, completely unaware of what was behind him. "And I hope the fates have been watching!"

Orleans started to run over to help as the demon pulled out a sword from behind its back, the blade almost as thick as the wizard. "Run, damn it!" Orleans yelled out, "Frening run!"

"Yeah, I'm done! Not a frening thing left for me here!" Solari said in return, at the precise moment the giant blade of stabbed into his back to lift the little wizard off his feet!

Solari's eyes widened, turning from Orleans down to the blade protruding from his chest. The kindlefell saw his own entrails wrapped around the length of it, his eyes turning back to Orleans as his arms fell limp and his family trident slipped from his fingers to drop into the dirt below. He never made a sound as the demon lifted his body up on his sword, holding him up above its head as the wizard's blood poured down onto him. Solari choked and gagged as a violent roar rumbled the air, and Orleans slid to a stop fifteen feet away from it. This demon had a long tongue hanging out of its mouth as it licked tauntingly at the dripping blood.

Orleans had his sword held low out in front of him as he stood before the massively small demon, which had a wicked grin on his face as he flung Solari's body off of his blade – the wizard's body bouncing off the dirt beside it as the demon snarled at Orleans.

"Prepare yourself, demon!" Orleans made clear as he raised his sword up high, the battle still going on behind him. "I am your death!"

As Orleans charged him, moving his steel back down low, the wizard stopped short of him. This caused an eyebrow of confusion to raise on the forehead of his opponent, only for that stuttered swing to curve up at the demon's throat in the blink of an eye. The demon only laughed, though, as he knocked the strike of Orleans down to the dirt with his own sword before smacking him in the teeth with the back of his left fist. That strike sent Orleans face first down into the sand, sliding him five feet across the ground.

It left the elder wizard surprised at the demon's strength, but didn't have time to think of it as he had to worry about a gigantic sword swinging down to kill him. He swiftly rolled away as the sword stabbed into the dirt beside him, sand exploding into his face. In turn, with nothing else for him to do, he reached over and grabbed a handful of sand for himself. Orleans didn't hesitate as he jumped up to his feet and tossed that sand right into the eyes of his ancient adversary.

The demon roared out in sudden annoyance as it clutched at its face, and Orleans now felt it was a fair fight as he leaped back into battle.

As he fought with the higher demon, the rest of the protectors battled with the other demons further away from them, everyone doing what Orleans had preached to them and protecting each other. Everyone had found someone else to depend upon in battle, someone to watch where their own eyes were not able. Everyone had seemed to find someone to fight alongside of in the moving mass of demons, everyone except Vayence. She was lost in the sea of red and black muscle, fighting just to get a breath. Already cut on her right side, left with a busted and bloodied nose, she kept fighting to stay alive. Vayence was blocking sword strikes with her twin hatchets, always moving, keeping her eyes focused on everything around her.

The foreborn eventually came face to face with the loud-mouthed demon Vhadaokod, and that's when blood began pumping with anger. She pulled a hatchet back to swing at him as he smiled, but she was never able to bring that arm forward as the sword of Shagtou slashed her across the back.

That impact sent Vayence into a spin, her muscles now weak, and she collapsed down to her knees at the feet of the two demons.

"That is right, witch!" Vhadaokod gloated, "That is exactly where you belong!"

The demon kicked her onto the ground, leaving her to bleed to death. And soon as he started walking away, a familiar voice entered his ear.

"Don't you wish it were truly that easy?!" The voice of Marigny asked from behind, sending a sudden chill up the spine of Vhadaokod.

"You were right about that patience crap." The warlock said to Palmisano as he glanced back at him.

"Don't worry about me, damn it," Palmisano told him, "Keep your eyes on that frening weasel!"

"You're right!" Marigny roared while turning back to face Vhadaokod, "I wouldn't want him to run away _again_."

Vhadaokod had not turned around towards him yet, so Marigny grabbed his shoulder and spun the demon around, completely ignoring the sword in his own grasp, and punched him right in the mouth!

Vhadaokod stumbled back into Shagtou, who stopped him from falling on his ass.

Marigny laughed at him as Vhadaokod held his jaw, "What's the matter, Vodkod?!" the confident warlock asked sarcastically. "This is the part where you're supposed to prove all that talking you do to be true. If you can, that is," he added with a chuckle.

Vhadaokod spat blood at him, "You fool!" He grunted, "My name is Vhadaokod! And I came back for you twice! Now..."

"We both kill you!!!" Both he and Shagtou said in unison as they charged him.

Suddenly Marigny found himself on the receiving end of a barrage of perfectly timed sword strikes, one after the other. "By the frening fates," he mumbled to himself in surprise. The warlock did well to keep his eyes on the two demons, watching the movements of their shoulders to tell which way they were swinging.

"Your speed is surprising!" Marigny spoke louder as he struggled to keep up with their movements. "But your defense is non-existent!" He hissed while moving under a sword strike from Vhadaokod and, again ignoring his own sword, drove an elbow right into his eye!

Palmisano dashed and dodged to get back to Marigny's side as he saw another demon coming at him from behind. "Get down!" He shouted out to the warlock as he swung his sword right at him.

If Marigny would not have ducked, the sword Palmisano wielded would have implanted itself into his left cheek. But he did duck, and Palmisano's sword swung right over his head, slashing through the neck of the oncoming demon.

Marigny stood back up straight to cock an eyebrow at Palmisano. "What are you trying to do, kill me?"

"No, I just saved your life!" The young wizard corrected, pointing down at the dead demon on the ground.

Marigny paid no attention to it. "Apeshit! You..."

"Again, down!" Palmisano shouted suddenly, cutting him off and swinging his blade right down towards him again.

"What the...!" Marigny stuttered as he ducked away from the sword a second time. Palmisano's blade interrupted to meet with the steel of Shagtou in mid-air, and they fought for position.

Marigny stood back up and looked over at the wizard again, seeing him fighting with Shagtou, "I knew you were trying to kill me, kindlefell." He told him, totally ignoring his struggle.

"No, Marigny, I am watching your back!" Palmisano tried to reason with him.

Marigny huffed in sarcasm, "Sure, that's what they all frening say, but I know that you are only watching it to find a better spot to drive your dagger."

"Sorry, but, if you haven't noticed yet, Marigny, it's been me who has kept you alive this entire time!" Palmisano argued as he blocked another Shagtou strike. "You need to start paying more attention!"

"Oh, so now I'm not paying attention?!" The cocky warlock asked in complete repulsion. "I can see perfectly frening fine, and I saw your frening sword swinging for my damn head... twice!"

Palmisano was ready to argue further, but found no time as he spotted Vhadaokod hopping in behind Marigny. "Quick, take this guy!" He groaned as he let Shagtou go free.

Marigny barely ducked under his sword again and had to immediately block a strike from Shagtou.

Palmisano then blocked Vhadaokod's sword from the other side and pushed the demon back. "I am only helping you, Marigny." He assured. "You just need to focus!"

"I am frening focused, very frening focused! Just stop swinging your damn sword at my head and messing up my frening rhythm!" Marigny yelled back at him.

Palmisano couldn't help but laugh as he blocked Vhadaokod's attacks. "It is not my fault they keep attacking you from behind!" He called back to him. "You should probably take it as a compliment! But so you don't get insulted anymore... here, why don't you take this one face to face?"

The wizard knocked down another strike from Vhadaokod as he pulled away from him, and Marigny swung around to take his place, mumbling on his way, "Understand that this does not make up for trying to kill me."

"Yeah, well, maybe kill him the next time you get the chance and I won't have to come and save your ass anymore!" Palmisano shouted out as he blocked a strike from Shagtou.

Elsewhere inside the mass of demons, fighting their way through, were Dogru and Shaydince. The witch and warlock worked well together, playing off of each other's strengths in whatever areas the other was weak.

When they found themselves becoming too crowded by the demons, and with Shaydince still feeling too weak to battle them on her own, she kicked her feet into the air and Dogru grabbed her by the ankles, swinging her around in circles. She held out her arms straight while holding a sickle in each of her hands, slicing through whatever demons were close enough to reach.

Together, they moved through the demons like a lawnmower cutting through grass, to put their movements into a current day analogy, with body parts flying out in every direction.

Then, with Shaydince feeling a bit underpowered to fight the enemy head on, she hopped up onto Dogru's shoulders. The warlock fought no differently with the extra added weight on his shoulders – still moving away from sword strikes and slashing in return – only now Shaydince was above him, raining down energy blasts at the opponents he could not reach.

She felt good again seated upon Dogru's shoulders, no longer showing any fear of the demons, and she aimed her palms right at their chests to make each shot clean, ripping holes through each one she hit, even shouting out for Dogru to turn around when she saw something he did not.

They were eating away at the mass of demons from the inside, out.

And on the out, fighting along the outer lines, the twins were still working their way around, systematically taking the demons out with their quick hit-and-run tactics.

The two siblings fought almost without fighting, engaging only in battles they could win with the least amount of effort, mostly with demons turned away from them... simply killing.

Timing their attacks together, they were both attacking single demons at a time. Working fast to bring each one down before any other even noticed, before running twenty or thirty feet around the mass to repeat the process.

This took up more time, but basically assured their safety.

Yet, as they circled around that mass for the third or fourth time, the demons seemed better prepared.

As brother and sister came around to take out another demon from behind, leaving its carcass in the dirt as they ran, six others turned around and chased after them. The twins noticed it, though, and began to lead them away from all the others to better even their odds.

Yani was leading the way, with Hani right behind her. He glanced back to see how close they were to him before reaching out in front of him to grab a dagger from the rear of his sister's belt. The young warlock planted his next step firmly into the soft dirt, digging in his right toe and pivoting around to face the demons. And in that same motion he flung the dagger back at the lead demon.

The dagger stabbed into its left shoulder, spinning it around to knock into the other demons as it tumbled into the dirt.

With the rest of them staggered, Yani had turned around behind her brother. One of those demons looked over at her, watching her drop the crossbow onto the ground beside her brother and hold her hands up in the air to show she had no more weapons. As Hani did the same, that demon took the time to turn back around and help his fellow invaders up to their feet.

In response, Yani reached over to the back of her brother's belt, pulled out another dagger, and flung it right at the demons, sticking the one out in front right in the shoulder.

Not much happened as the demon merely looked down at the knife sticking out of his upper-arm. While the others got up around him, with a roar of anger that demon ripped that blade from its thick skin and tossed at the ground.

Hani looked back at his sister, shaking his head. She could only shrug her shoulders and smile at him as the five remaining demons came charging at them.

Then, without saying a word to each other, Yani leapfrogged over the head of her brother as he tossed her crossbow up to her. That's when the witch launched her first arrow down across the lead demon's face and chest, blood spraying into her face as she crumpled it to the ground in front of the others.

Meanwhile, Hani went spinning around his sister, through the mist of blood to stab two daggers into the next demon, one through the left side of its chest and the other just to the right of its neck.

More blood sprayed into the air to blind the demons near them as Hani saw a certain look in his sister's eyes. Without another thought he was dropping down onto his chest as Yani leapt over him to stick the next arrow into throat of the demon that was swinging at him.

That demon howled out as it swung around, blood spraying out like mist from its open wound in every direction, helping to further blind the remaining demons.

Hani popped up instantly to his feet as another demon charged at his sister and he sliced it from the groin to its chin, knocking it back into the last demon.

That demon swiped the body out of the air, knocking it away as it jumped forward towards Hani. The young warlock moved away from two swings of the demon's arm, its sharp claws extended, and swung forcibly back at the demon. Instead of dying, though, it ducked under the double dagger strike and came up with a wide slash of his fist, slicing into Hani's chest and knocking him back onto the ground.

Yani was watching it happen when the demon with one arm jumped out in front of her to swing for her head. She ducked under his claws to come up swinging with an arrow at an angle aiming right at the side of its skull. The blackened beast clumsily bent away so much that it lost its balance and fell over onto its side trying to avoid it. Yani ignored it, though, and ran over to help her brother. As she jumped over its body, that demon lifted its leg to trip the witch down onto her face. But on her way down, she tossed that steel-tipped arrow at the demon attacking Hani.

The young warlock was back on his feet, his shirt torn and blood dripping from four slashes across his chest as he faced his opponent, swinging four times at the filthy beast. But the demon dodged each strike, ducking, moving and jumping away. It snarled at Hani, sending slobber flying.

After falling on her face, Yani looked up to see that her arrow had overshot its target. But as Hani wiped the spit from his eyes, he saw it coming.

The warlock swung once more, a wide and lazy shot just to push it further back, and then used the momentum created from such a long swing to launch himself upwards. Spinning his body and twisting his legs around to lay a kick right on the tip of that arrow to flip it gracefully in the air, Hani kicked it flat on its nock, in turn sending the bladed tip straight down through the top of the unsuspecting demon's skull!

The demon's eyes went white as the slender shaft dug down below its neck, and it collapsed harmlessly down onto its own legs.

Yani was back on her feet by that point, smiling at the outcome. But she had completely forgotten about the enemy at her back, not remembering until she saw the look on her brother's face as he tossed a dagger over to her. She'd started her spin before even snatching the weapon out the air, reaching her arms around without even looking at it, then driving it right into the face of the demon. The swing split her attacker's head in half as the beast dropped straight onto the ground in a splattering of crimson.

Both Hani and Yani had managed to walk away with new confidence, stained red but making their way back to help finish off what remained of the invaders.

* * *

The demon numbers were thinning by the time the twins ran into Dogru and Shaydince. The four of them exchanged quick nods of acknowledgement as they each went their own way. It was now clear that even these hybrid demons were far outclassed by the protector witches. But about a hundred yards away was Lord Orleans, still locked in battle with the demon leader.

The waken moved away, almost running backwards to avoid the wild swings of the higher demon as it charged forward without relent. Orleans rolled out the way of a long swing as his opponent stumbled past him. Shifting his weight to turn, the wizard used the opportunity to throw a ball of energy at the demon's head.

The demon had to awkwardly change its direction to avoid the shot, leaving Orleans a window to attack. He lunged up with his sword swinging at its head, only for it to swing back around and shoot a line of flame out of its mouth. It caught the wizard completely off guard, but he turned his face away from the attack as his momentum carried him right into the fire.

That same momentum, though, helped his hood to swing up and block the flame from the back of his head, but his cloak was lit ablaze.

Orleans spun around, pulling his cloak off as he did, and tossed the flaming fabric right at the demon's face. In response, the demon lifted his sword and sliced the flaming cloak in two, jumping straight through it in a fit of rage.

All Orleans could do was hold out his blade to block the attack of the demon, pushing against it to try and gain an advantage of some sort. The monster just snarled at him, its upper lip twitching.

Orleans roared at the demon, and the demon roared right back at him.

The wizard then kicked it right between the legs, hoping for a better reaction than the one he got, but still followed it up by breaking their struggle and swinging for its throat. That's when his opponent dropped below his sight, collapsing abruptly onto its knees in pain. Not even trying to dodge its own death, the beast finally gave Orleans the outcome he'd expected after kicking it.

He tried not to think of his opponent's luck as he redirected his sword, stabbing at its chest. But as the strike was spotted, without warning, wings sprouting out the demon's shoulder blades, flapping the ancient creature to safety as it flew skyward. Orleans stumbled forward before he caught his balance and looked up above him in amazement.

That higher demon was far above him, lost somewhere in the light of the setting sun, when all of a sudden Orleans realized that he was not looking at the light of the sun at all, as the sun was not that high and further off to the side, but instead the light of an oncoming blast of fire.

The sight of it sent a chill straight down the wizard's spine, and he turned to run away. With one last leap into the air as the blast made impact, he glided as far away from it as possible. The shockwave pushed him even further as the fireball exploded onto the earth, throwing debris in every direction as the ground trembled with intensity. Though he tried to redirect himself, the left shoulder of Orleans hit first as he skidded across the dirt, seemingly unscathed.

The explosion caught everyone's attention as it shook the earth beneath their feet. The light filled the eyesight of any who looked upon it, blinding many of the demons. As soon as the witches noticed, they took full advantage of the distraction and brought many of them down while still in a daze.

Marigny directed his attention towards the blast, not knowing who or what had caused it. He peered through the outburst of demon parts to spot Orleans lying on the ground, staring up into the sky. So Marigny followed his eyes to see what he was looking at, and had his breath taken away when he saw the demon hovering above, large wings spread out and flapping steadily to hold itself in the air.

"Your friend stands no chance against Avyyz!" Vhadaokod growled at Marigny as he pulled his sword back and swung. "And watching his death will only bring you closer to your own!"

Marigny moved his own blade to block the strike and followed it with a kick to Vhadaokod's gut, pushing him away. Vhadaokod ignored it, blocked the next strike that Marigny threw, only to get kicked in the gut again. The demon stumbled back and raised his chisled stone up to block another strike, but this time prepared itself for the foot to come at his gut again – ready to grab and flip the warlock over, driving his own sword through his chest. The vision flashed through the demon's mind, but the foot never came. Instead, Marigny's arm snuck around his defenses and his fist slammed into his face!

Vhadaokod stumbled back and dropped to his knees, his senses suddenly blurred. Then a foot smacked him across the side of his head, causing all his muscles to go limp for a moment. The demon struggled to stay upright as he slumped over, his arms at his side and sword now on the ground.

"Do not toy with him anymore!" The voice of Palmisano came from not far away, "Finish the draker while you have the chance!"

Vhadaokod tried to shake his head, but it only bobbled, and Marigny grunted as he swung down, almost reluctant to end their fight so soon. Vhadaokod could do nothing to stop it, but heard Palmisano shout, "Watch out," as the sword swung towards him.

As Marigny was swinging at Vhadaokod, Shagtou had gotten away from Palmisano and launched a ball of swirling yellow fire at him. The flames exploded on Marigny's right shoulder and sent him tumbling to the ground, his sword swinging wide of Vhadaokod.

"Draker scum!" Palmisano groaned as he ran and swung at Shagtou. The demon blocked the strike, but had so much momentum behind it that Shagtou found his back in the dirt. Before the wizard swung down again, another demon came growling and swinging at him, and he had to redirect his sword into that demon's gut.

As that demon dropped to the ground, Shagtou was back on his feet, and Palmisano went right back after him, making sure he could not help his fellow higher demon any longer.

Marigny was laying face down in the dirt, the skin on the back of his right shoulder bubbling up from the fireball that took him out. The impact had knocked him dizzy for a moment, but after he steadied himself, he did well to ignore the pain and began to push himself back up.

Vhadaokod's senses had returned to him by that point, and he saw Marigny getting back to his feet.

The two of them then stood up at the same moment, both of them still shaken and neither with a sword in hand as they stumbled towards each other. Marigny threw a straight right hand that landed right on the nose of Vhadaokod, causing the demon to almost fall back down again. He stopped himself only by having the wherewithal to swing back his right leg and hold his balance steady. Marigny didn't give him a moment to recover, though, and came straight towards him But Vhadaokod used that same right leg to swing around and kick Marigny right in the shin!

The demon's foot cracked against the warlock's bone, almost collapsing him before he hoped away, complaining.

"What in all of frening fury was that?!" Marigny asked, not putting any weight on his left leg for the moment.

"This is war!" Vhadaokod hissed, not attacking due to his blurred vision.

"Exactly," Marigny exclaimed, "And who the fury resorts to kicking somebody in the frening shin in the middle of a frening war?"

"There are no rules in war!" Vhadaokod answered with aggression.

"Yes, exactly," Marigny repeated, "So stab me in the back, rip out my frening eyes, hit me with a damn rock over the head. But don't you ever kick me in the frening shin, you coward!"

"Why, what does it matter?" Vhadaokod asked with a smile, "There is no difference."

"Oh, there's a difference." Marigny made clear as he stretched out his leg, bending it back and forth. "Everything else I said may have given you an advantage... but kicking me in the shin only makes me hate you that much frening more. And you really do not want me to hate you any more than I already do. However..." The warlock took a step forward towards Vhadaokod, and a step closer to his sword, "I believe it's already too late for that." He smiled while kicking the steel from the dirt to grab it, slashing down from the side of Vhadaokod.

The demon staggered backwards as he saw three swords coming at him at once, when it was only the single sword of Marigny. But since he was unable to dodge them all, Vhadaokod seemed to simply freeze in place.

Shagtou saw what was happening all around them, and what was about to happen to Vhadaokod, so the coward promptly spun around and sprouted wings from his back, knocking Palmisano to the ground with them as the young wizard watched Shagtou fly away.

The voice of Palmisano was yelling out to him, sounding very much like his new warlock friend, "You're frening gutless! Damn you!"

And as Marigny swung down at the confused Vhadaokod, the demon found himself lifted up by his counterpart, saving him from a certain death. The warlock's swing missed him by mere inches, and he cursed at them as he watched them fly away.

"What are you doing?" Vhadaokod asked Shagtou as he hung down from his arms high up in the air, "I had him right where I wanted him. And Avyyz has complete control of that wizard. We must go back down and finish this!"

"I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this... but I don't even think Avyyz can win this battle for us." Shagtou told him honestly. "These witches were underestimated. So I am making sure that we survive to fight them again."

"What are you talking about?" Vhadaokod asked with no real idea about what happened during those last five minutes.

"Just look down below and see for yourself." Shagtou added. "These witches have not come to play games. They are a strong and determined force, and we must regroup ourselves if we wish to keep this castle."

Vhadaokod then looked down at the battle below, or at least what still remained of it.

The mass of demons that smothered the witches not long ago had since been reduced to a few scattered groups, with the Protectors of Terra easily mowing through them. And as Shagtou and Vhadaokod flew over the castle gates, those witches were finishing up with the last of the demons back on the ground.

***

The twins were working along with Dogru and Shaydince to cut down the scraps of the demon horde, with Palmisano being helped up by Marigny as the young warlock turned his focus to Orleans and his ongoing battle with the higher demon, Avyyz.

He watched as that stocky hunk of muscle tossed Orleans into the air and swung at him with its gigantic sword. Orleans blocked it as he flipped down to his feet and tried to trip the demon, but instead had it hop over his sweeping leg and smack him in the face while still in airborne, knocking him down into the dust.

Orleans was clearly worn down and having trouble getting back up as he got kicked in the side and put back down with ease. Avyyz then kicked the sword from out his hand and stomped on his fingers.

Orleans yelped out as Marigny watched, seeing that this demon was only toying with their leader... and he would have none of that. In a burst of speed he began to make his way over to him, but instead got crowded over by a stray group of lower demons. Palmisano was there alongside him and began slashing away at the lot of them, but Marigny had already lost focus and got caught up in the action.

Meanwhile, Orleans got his skull stomped on, smashing his head into the dirt. Avyyz had shown no mercy to the wizard throughout their entire fight, unless letting him live through the relentless beating he was taking might be considered mercy.

Orleans tried to get up as he spat blood upon the dirt, but Avyyz swung down with his sword, stabbing it into the ground right in front of him. The wizard knew it could have well been him had the monster chose it to be. And he understood that if he wanted to live beyond this fight, something had to happen soon, because he was not going to survive against this beast for much longer.

The elder wizard lifted his head to look up at Avyyz and saw that his attention had momentarily turned away, with his sword still stuck in the dirt two feet away. Swiftly, the waken reached out and grabbed onto that sword, using it to pull himself up before yanking it out of the dirt. It was at that moment when the demon turned around to see Orleans wielding its own weapon.

"That is right, scum!" Orleans growled, pulling the heavy sword back and holding it over his shoulder. "Now is your end!"

The waken tried taking a swing at the demon's upper body, heaving the enormous blade of fire-forged steel around his own body, only to have Avyyz leap up and easily dodge the strike, with the momentum swinging Orleans completely around as Avyyz spun in the air, landing behind him.

As Marigny battled with the weaker demons, he made sure to get his eyes back on Orleans. To his surprise, it was to see him holding a sword almost as big as he was.

He watched as his old friend, a wizard who'd treated him like a son for so many centuries, looked behind himself to spot the demon standing with a sick grin across his already twisted lips. Orleans then swung the heavy sword around desperately once again, only for Avyyz to step oh so simply up onto the blade and run across it, kicking their valiant leader right in the face!

The sword dropped from out of the hands of the witch leader as he fell straight onto his back, a trail of blood from his face following him all the way, curving down to the ground like a bloody rainbow as he collapsed.

Marigny at last broke free of the lower demons, cutting down the last two to make a clear path to Orleans as he ran to help his leader. The warlock ran as fast as his legs would carry him, with Palmisano not far behind.

Orleans was sitting up, leaning back on his arms and facing the demon, but focusing his eyes behind it, at the charging Marigny, pointing as he spoke, "No, Marigny... Go the fury back!" He tried to yell out, but was barely able to raise his voice.

Avyyz had picked his sword up off the ground and was stalking towards the defenseless Orleans, but turned to see who he was talking to. That's when the demon noticed Marigny charging from behind him and swung around to meet this new threat.

Orleans watched Avyyz turn his full attention to Marigny, knowing that the young warlock was not yet ready to face such a powerful force, and began fumbling to get up to his feet before this opportunity passed him by. The old wizard had his hands pushing himself up when, there in the sand, buried just beneath it, he felt the handle of his own sword.

Marigny screamed at the beast from a distance, distracting it from doing Orleans any more harm. "He is the least of your worries now, demon swine!"

Avyyz roared in return, flames spraying from his mouth and nose before charging forward to meet his new opponent. But the demon couldn't even take its third step without a sword breaking out of its chest. Blood was squirting and oozing from the wound as the eyes of Avyyz grew wide. The upper lip and left eye of the higher demon were twitching as it turned its head around to peer into the bloodshot eyes of Lord Orleans.

"I... I thought... you.... were finished!" Avyyz formed his growl into words as he stared back at the bloody face of the wizard lord.

Orleans could barely talk, but managed to smile back at Avyyz, "Now, where would you get an idea like that?" That smile only widened a he ripped his sword up through the monster's huge chest.

Avyyz was breathing heavy as he started coughing up blood, his hands losing feeling as the oversized sword dropped to the dirt. It may have been a bit difficult for Orleans to tear through the thick muscles of the demon, but once he did – the bones of his ribcage popping and snapping like twigs – the steel blade ripped out of its head, with more blood exploding in every direction as Avyyz crumbled upon himself, his upper body now torn in two!

This fight had been won. But it was at the cost of two precious lives. Both Solari and Vayence had died valiantly in battle, and they would not soon be forgotten. But as Palmisano walked past the body of the fallen witch, he yelled with excitement.

"Hey! Somebody! It's Vayence! She's still alive!"

"Are you sure?" Shaydince asked as she rushed over.

"Yeah, she's still breathing." Palmisano told her, weary of flipping her over. "That slice on her back is pretty bad, but it didn't kill her."

"Lift her up," Orleans ordered as he limped over. "We'll have to carry her out of here. We can't stay here any longer. Despite our need to penetrate those walls, advancing further in our current state is not an option."

Palmisano nodded, understanding the urgency, and lifted her up onto his shoulders. With that, the seven surviving Protectors of Terra gathered around Lord Orleans as they retreated. Marigny couldn't help but stare back at the closed gates of the castle, dwelling on the destruction he would have wrought on the inside. But he knew this battle with the demons wasn't over yet, not even frening close.

* * *

It took seventeen of the survivors over a week to walk back to the elder's castle. Palmisano would've loved to blink everyone there, but even if he wanted to reveal his secret, he had already depleted his inner energy. The battles had all of them worn down and injured in some way or another, but Orleans was the worst of them all. The higher demon had badly beaten him, and Marigny had to help carry him the final three days of their journey, one which he demanded to take.

Of course Marigny thought they never should have left in the first place, that he could have singlehandedly defeated the demons all by himself, but respected his friend enough to follow his orders and retreat. If it would have been anyone else in charge, he would still be back there fighting.

After retreating away from the castle walls and back through the city, they found Boyle and his group already finished with the lower demons they were holding off.

"What in tartarus happened?" Boyle asked in confusion as he saw the group of seven approaching him.

"Orleans is injured." Shaydince informed him, "He has ordered our retreat."

"Retreat?" Boyle asked, "But we just got started. The sun has not even set yet."

"How many have you lost?" Marigny asked as he appeared in Boyle's face.

"I regretfully lost five protectors," Boyle replied, lowering his head, "Filenya, Wyrus... Hessa, Suvilus and Kaomus."

"Alright... good," Marigny came back, bringing Boyle to look up strangely at him, "We have not lost too many."

"What are you talking about?" Boyle asked the young warlock, clearly upset. "We lost more than a hundred fighters. We have already lost far too many."

"Just listen," Marigny stopped him to lower his voice. "It would not be wise to evacuate everyone from the area, not if we truly wish to take this castle. I think at least a few of us need to stay here, if only to keep an eye on what the demons are doing. Whoever that is, they should try to figure out why they are here and what they wish to accomplish with this place. In my opinion, we cannot leave them alone to build up their forces without our knowledge."

Boyle listened, nodding his head.

"So all I am asking is for you to go around and find out who is willing to do that, maybe only four or five at most, and I will do the same." Marigny told him in an overly polite tone to get the old wizard to take him seriously. "I just think that would be the best thing to do right now. But we have to hurry because we have to leave here within the hour."

Boyle nodded, but stopped Marigny from walking away with a question, "Does Lord Orleans know about any of this?"

Marigny stopped with his back turned to Boyle, turning his head slowly. "Let's just say that... if he did, he wouldn't like it," the warlock told him, "He has been badly injured and would never approve after the fight he had. But I do believe it to be the wisest thing if we are actually able to return with more fighters. It would give us a tactical advantage that the demons would not know we had."

Boyle nodded again. "I believe so, as well," he agreed, "This will not be a problem."

Those two then set off to talk with everyone as they all prepared to leave. Lord Orleans was being tended to by Palmisano while Shaydince looked after Vayence. Marigny wanted to be sure they caught no wind of his idea.

"She isn't coming with us." Shaydince let Palmisano know about Vayence's condition. "She can't even stand. There is no way she's going to make it back to Elder frening Castle."

"So what are you saying?" Palmisano asked.

Shaydince took a moment. "I'm saying someone has to stay with her."

Palmisano just nodded, not wanting to think about it yet.

As the hour came to a close, they had found five witches that were willing to remain behind and watch the demons, and another staying behind due to injury. The twins, Hani and Yani, were the first to agree. The next witch that was willing to stay behind was Relayna, either to prove further her self-imposed protection of Evette or to try and give her a little space. It was anyone's guess. Another willing participant was the small warlock Sprug, who had been an excellent spy during previous wars. And finally, Boyle himself decided to stay, only to make sure Vayence remained safe, and to see that nothing would go wrong.

The remaining witches then set off into the jungle for Elder Castle, arriving after a long nine day journey. But before they entered the elder's chamber, they could hear the angered voice of the head elder Arabi echoing through the long castle halls as he barked at the nearest unlucky witch.

"I do not care who your mother is, failure is not an option in this war! This time I'll make sure to send a much more competent army to take back Drakland, since the two of you did nothing but give it to the damn demons! You are pathetic! Now, get the fury out of my sight!"

The staggering group of witches made a turn and were now able to see further down the hallway into the entrance of the elder's chamber. And walking out of the room swiftly, wearing faces of anger and marred with blood, were two young female witches. The first, leading the way past them through the hall, had long red hair, bright as blood, and the other, much younger than the first, with short orange hair that bounced as she walked. Neither even paid any mind to the seventeen battered witches as they passed by, obviously with something much more important on their minds.

Marigny, though, made a complete stop to turn around and watch them as they walked away. It had been too long since he'd thought about the other sex in that way, but those two could do nothing but induce the most obscure of fantasies within his mind. The foolheart shook his head as they left his sight, Orleans still resting on his right shoulder.

"What are we doing?"

"Nothing, lord," Marigny couldn't help but smile. "I just thought they looked... familiar."

"They all look the same when you are as old as I." Orleans said, letting a smirk cross his lips. "So, yeah, I thought they looked 'familiar', as well."

As Marigny chuckled, they continued on down the hall towards the entrance, all of them able to hear the murmurings of curiosity coming from inside as Orleans stopped them before they entered.

"Let me stand. I want to walk in there. I need to," he told Marigny, thanking him as he stepped away from him.

Orleans then led the way into the elder's chamber, limping and hunched over, and in a flash the room went silent, everyone knowing exactly who he was.

Lord Orleans was one of the most decorated fighters in the history of Witchkind, having defended the Earth against many foes for many centuries. The only fault they could find in his legacy was the years he spent fighting alongside the Demon Lord, Claiborne. But that was a different time. No one understood the evil that the demon race presented back in those days, and most did not even know it was his infiltration that helped to sway the tide of that war towards the witches – all those millennia ago.

But for all the Elders to see him like he was, this was something they could never have imagined. Orleans had never before even lost a fighter under his command, so for him to walk in half dead with only sixteen other witches behind him – after leaving with over two hundred – it was a shock to everyone involved.

"By the fates, what has happened?!" the elder witch Katrina was the one to at last break the silence.

Whispers were loud enough to hear on the far corners of the room as everyone had their eyes on Lord Orleans, his face bruised with dried blood stained from forehead to chin, clothes torn and burned, dragging his left leg as he limped over to the center of that room and knelt down, the surviving fighters standing proudly behind him.

"I have come to you in... in defeat, asking for assistance." Orleans spoke with head hung low.

The elder witch Katrina was the first to stand and address him. "Please explain what happened? I think we're having a bit of trouble... digesting."

"There is no time. We have already wasted enough of it." Orleans replied, eyes still facing the floor. "I'd rather not talk about how wrong everything was, because that would leave us here all night. We survived, alright. And I'd like to think that keeping us so was the right thing to do."

"Your group was sent to the Halflands, is that correct?" she asked him.

His acknowledgement came as a slight nod of his head.

"We sent you with over two hundred fighters, one of the larger teams. Is this _all the_ fighters you have left?" Katrina asked more pryingly, just trying to figure out anything she could.

It took Orleans well over a minute to reply as he fought back tears, that telling Katrina all she needed to know. "Yes," he spoke softly, "They are the only survivors, and they fought with such great bravery. If it were up to them, we would still be out there, fighting to our deaths."

"Then maybe you should have listened to them," the voice of Arabi broke in like shattering glass.

Everyone went silent for a moment, confused if they'd heard him correctly.

Orleans raised his head up to look straight at the old wizard. "What was that?"

Arabi stood up, his presence growing as he did. "Maybe there was a mistake in choosing the leader for your group. Perhaps you have grown old and are not the great warrior you once were."

Orleans promptly stood up, ignoring all the pain that coursed through his body. "Are you saying we should have remained there and died?"

After a slight snicker, Arabi spoke firmly, "I am simply saying you may no longer be fit to lead." He was raising his voice significantly with each word, "I am saying that this would not have happened five-thousand years ago, or five-hundred-thousand years ago. It was so long ago when you were the grand wizard warrior, Orleans. Now look at you, defeated and almost killed by the same race you once led." As gasps filled the chamber, the elder piled it on, "If there was anyone that could have defeated the demons at their strongest, it should have been you, and someone clearly gave you more than enough fighters to get the job done. But instead you crawl back to kneel at my feet and beg for more?!"

Arabi let his voice echo off the walls and let his words sink into everyone's skin before he continued. "You will find no help here, no solace for your losses!" His words shot through everyone in the room like a chilled knife, all of them shocked at the response. "Whatever fool allowed you to defend Halflore was no doubt a bit misguided in their decision. Maybe they were tired or exhausted or having a stroke when they made it so... but there is no turning back now! You will either return to lead your surviving forces to victory, or you will return to die... either way, you _will_ return, as you frening are!"

"What in all of...?!!" Katrina blurted out loud, visibly stunned. "You cannot be serious?" She spoke from across the room, looking Arabi right in the face.

But Arabi stared right back at her with a face of stone, not even answering.

"This is wrong, damn it!" Katrina shouted. "First you deny my daughter, and now the most decorated warrior of our kind! This is absurd! How are we supposed to win a war when we deny aid to our own fighters?!"

Arabi did not respond, only looking away.

The whole exchange left Orleans shaking his head, blood boiling with the anger that built inside of him, but he too turned away. The waken pushed through the confused witches of his team, motioning for them to follow as he walked out of the room the same way he walked in: a broken wizard. Only now he had something new to prove.

Marigny stared back at Arabi with a cold glare of utter disgust, not letting his eyes off of him until the door shut behind them. It left Arabi with a satisfied smile, as if he'd just done something spectacular.

Orleans had forgotten his hurt to storm down the hall, furious, no differently than the two witches before them had.

His fighters followed closely behind him, with Marigny stepping up to his side. "We do not need their help." He assured his old friend, teacher and protégé. "I have an idea."

"Marigny, no!" Orleans tried to stop him as he ran out ahead of them.

"Sorry, but you just have to trust me on this one," the warlock called back as he disappeared around the corner.

The others stayed behind Orleans, walking in complete silence.

Orleans shook his head at Marigny. "I will never know what to do with him," he grumbled to himself.

It took them a few more minutes to catch up, but they found him alongside the two witches from earlier. With those two new faces at his side he turned to his team to start introducing them.

"Everyone, meet Amber and Jade, two witches who are more than willing to help us out," he spoke happily, looking back at the witches and pointing to his team. "Jade, Amber... this is everyone."

The group was then off into the jungles again, same as before, with everyone getting to know the two new witches and introducing themselves on their way back to Halflore.

* * *

Along their journey the witches learned much about their two newest members. The two of them had been training together since The Great Thousand Years War, fought against the vampires – having both been born within it. But this was their first real battle experience of their own. The two witches had never even left the vicinity of Elder Castle until the week before, and right away fell victim to a sneak attack from the demons, no differently than the team of Orleans. They were the only survivors of their group of around fifty witches and decided to go back to the castle instead of just dying. Thus they got stripped of their battle privileges on the grounds of betrayal to their team members and ordered to remain at the castle. But they were more than happy to break protocol and follow behind one of the most respected fighters of all time.

Jade, the eldest of the two, was the daughter of Katrina – the only elder that stood up to Arabi back at the castle. And Amber, only slightly younger than Jade, was the sister of the warrior wizard Andrew, someone that both Orleans and Marigny knew all too well. But besides all that, the journey had given all the witches time to heal their wounds.

Witchkind had a spectacular recovery time. Maybe not as good as a vampire, but with the aid of various herbal mixtures, potions as others might call them, they came pretty damn close. It had been nearly two weeks since they abandoned their plans and left the castle to the demons, and the survivors of that assault had since healed their wounds. Over that time, during their occasional rests and with each step they took, scars were being mended as bones shifted back into place. And as they neared the Halflands once more, they all felt a sense of much needed rejuvenation.

Marigny and Palmisano were at the lead with Orleans, followed closely by Jade and Amber. Ogar and Harkiss were off to the side, doing their best not to trip over each other, while Chargon and Mykus discussed battle strategies right behind them. The young Elisa was beside them, exchanging experiences with Tegan and Evette, Chanlo and Fayth walking off to the right discussing everything they did wrong in their previous attack. Tamara and Talisa trailed behind, remembering everyone they had watched die around them. This left the young Slanded sulking off to the left, replaying his moments of cowardice within his head. And Dogru, he was far behind them all, walking slowly and silently with Shaydince at his side, telling him stories about her past adventures despite his complete lack of acknowledgement.

Everything felt right.

Even though they were entering with far less of a chance at victory, they were going into it with much more confidence, enough so that even Orleans was walking with a bounce in his step by the time they got close to the coast again.

But as soon as they hit the outer tree line, Marigny stopped everyone where they stood, telling them all to be quiet as he held his ear to the wind.

After a long moment of silence, with all the witches wondering what was going on, they spotted movement coming towards them from the trees. Everyone turned towards it, ready for the fight to start after what had happened last time. But Marigny motioned for them to calm their nerves as Boyle and the five other witches that remained came walking out into the clearing.

Boyle met them with a smile, glancing at the two pretty new faces. "So I suppose these two are our... help?" he asked curiously.

Marigny nodded, smiling as well. "That would be correct." He replied happily.

After a moment of nodding his head and staring at them, the older wizard responded with, "Good job."

All the witches burst into laughter except for Palmisano and Orleans, both of whom were still confused.

"Wait," Orleans stuttered as he stepped out in front of everyone. "I thought... I thought you were all frening dead."

"I thought we were short a few fighters," Palmisano stated right alongside him.

The two looked at each other for a moment, then at Marigny as everyone stopped laughing.

The warlock could only smile as he tried to assure them. "Don't worry. You'll thank me for this idea later. I had a feeling our absence would give the demons ample opportunity to prepare for their next assault. So I told Boyle, here, that it would be a good idea if a few of us stayed behind to keep an eye on things, and see what they did while we were away. And now we should be able to figure out how they plan to defend the castle."

The look on the face of Orleans did not change. Clearly, he was upset, but did not voice his opinion aloud.

Palmisano, on the other hand, had no trouble voicing his, "Are you trying to get them all killed?!" He exclaimed. "A decision such as that was not yours to make."

"They knew not to involve themselves, no matter what happened." Marigny argued his case, "No one was in any danger of being killed."

"They were alone in a jungle surrounded by demons!" Palmisano countered, "How is that not dangerous?"

"Okay, it might be a little dangerous, sure... but they can take care of themselves!" Marigny began to shout. "We all can!"

"Doesn't matter! It was a selfish decision to make either way." Palmisano put it simply.

"Selfish?" the angering warlock asked. "This is the single most unselfish thing I have ever done... _in my life_! I was thinking about Vayence and her injury and about all of our safety when we returned."

"But were you thinking of _their_ safety while we were away?" the young wizard asked in return.

Before Marigny could answer, Orleans shut them both up, "Silence, both of you!"

This got everyone's attention, but the wizard took his time glancing between the two of them. Instead of asking them anything, though, he turned to his old friend Boyle. "What did you see?"

Boyle bowed his head before beginning and explained that everything was quiet for two entire days. He had even begun to wonder if, in fact, they had defeated the demons. But on the third day, the castle gates opened wide and five demons with energy enough to rattle Boyle's nerves came out to survey the carnage that the witches had left behind in their wake. These were the higher demons, Boyle made clear, all with immense power. Another demon, a lower demon, then left into the jungle all alone as the five superiors began to incinerate all the corpses of their fallen that lined the foot of the hill. He confirmed two of those five demons to be Vhadaokod and Shagtou, and they all retreated inside the castle walls, not to be seen again. The next two days that followed were just as quiet as the first two.

It was not until the sixth day that Boyle began to grow worried. Countless demons started to pour out of the trees and in through the gates, reinforcements arriving from somewhere nearby, he presumed. There was no way to give an accurate number, but said it had to be more than a thousand. They remained inside the castle walls for three more days, exiting on the tenth and disappearing into both sides of the jungle. He did not believe that it was all the demons that left, though, explaining that it may not have even been half of them. But they were without a doubt preparing for the next assault.

Next he went on to explain how the group leaving on the tenth day had been split into two, both with seemingly equal numbers. One group disappeared into the jungle east of the castle, while the other group went west of the city. He expected both groups to be preparing an ambush for them as neither had ever returned since disappearing.

It had been three days since they hid themselves. Now on the thirteenth day since leaving, the returning witches knew where the demons were hiding and had at least an estimate of how many there were. They understood the odds stacked against them and now needed to decide what to do with that information.

Palmisano was still a little annoyed at how Marigny put the others in harm's way, but now understood the benefits of such a risk and awaited the decision Orleans was forced to make.

The two young witches, Jade and Amber, were nervous after hearing what Boyle had told them. The confident words of Orleans, though, made them forget about all their worries.

"They say this land is the same from which our race was born, the soil that fills our veins." Their named lord began, speaking with confidence to his troops, thoroughly rejuvenated after his experience with Arabi. "They say this land holds a unique quality to it. That's why they call it The Birthplace. Because this is the land that gave birth to both our kind and the apes... the land that gave birth to alchemy, sorcery and the greatest storms this world has ever seen. And that is precisely what the demons hope to take from us... this land, our land. That's why _we_ are here to prevent that. Now, other witches may say it's not up to us to decide that."

The old wizard looked around into everyone's eyes before continuing, "Because the ancient texts claim that fate, not our own hands, controls our actions. They say that destiny, some unseen force, wields our souls like weapons, each of us no more than a simple pawn in this game called life. They might say that... no matter what we did, how hard we fought; there can be no escaping our fate. It has been set in the stone of time for all of eternity, and there is no way to change any of it. But I, you see... I tend to disagree. Sure, everything may happen for a reason. But what that reason is – the why, the how, the who – that is ours to decide. So with that said, we could use the knowledge of where the demons are hiding and we can quietly sneak up on them and slowly pick them apart one by one while hiding in the trees or something, like apes might do. Or..." the voice of Orleans raised slightly before blatantly yelling, "We could storm that frening castle with the fates at our backs, wielding our aggressions as blades, and make our own frening destiny, a destiny that all future generations can look back upon and _know:_ it... was... _ours_!"

Everyone burst into cheers as he looked around at all of his fine warriors, holding a deep pride in his heart.

"That is right! Let them try to stop us!" He yelled out again. "We are witches! And Terra is ours! It is our duty to protect it with our every frening breath! And if the demons wish to claim it, let it be our duty to assure that they fail! They have fallen before, an annihilation witnessed with my own eyes! I watched them get wiped from the face of existence! And now, with the mighty warriors that surround me here... I will watch once more as we reduce their race to extinction!"

The witches continued to cheer around him, their emotions high.

"Prepare yourselves, witches! _Our_ time has arrived! Arabi wishes us to die! He believes us weak and unable to claim this land! Well, let's make sure to disappoint him! Because no longer will we follow the orders of a frening fool! If the Elders wish this war to be over... then _we shall end it_! Not only shall we take this castle, but every other from henceforth, until we are standing atop the carcasses of the entire demon race! This is our war now – our fight, our world, and our frening destiny!!! So go and frening take it! Remain together, fight for each other, and follow my lead!" Orleans was yelling out loud as he led the way out of the shadows, "No plans will assure us this victory, not tonight, not against these demons! Only our own bloody fists will assure us this victory, here! Now let's get out there and crack some frening skulls!"

* * *

The witches charged out the jungle north of the outer village with no regard for their own safety. Without any real plans, no finely tuned ideas – only their anger, their own passion filled hatreds - they were trying to get the demons to come out of hiding so they could release a bit of it upon their faces. They sprinted through that outer village, through the ash that used to be homes and into the Short Forest. And by the time the twenty-five witches charged into center city, each was able to see the black and red mass of demons charging from the western jungle. Orleans wanted to avoid the thick of those demons, so instead of running into them head on he stopped everyone from moving forward and led the way to the east, where a short line of buildings remained standing.

"We have to thin the herd!" Orleans called back as he led them into a narrow passage with large yellow buildings made of stone on each side of them.

The demon masses were forced to crowd themselves as they piled into the passageway in lines of maybe five or ten, bunching up their ranks and making them push and trip over one another. Meanwhile the witches were comfortable standing side by side as they faced the clogging demons. All of them unleashed repeated energy attacks at the enemy, throwing wave after wave of concentrated energy into the crowd. In turn demons were dropping one after another as the multicolored energy blasts ripped through their ranks.

With every one that fell the pile of bodies on the oddly paved street grew thicker, a street that apes and witches alike once shared, leaving less and less room for the other demons further back to move forward. But soon those demons were jumping over each other to get up front, and the witches shot each one of them to the ground as they backed away further into the narrow walkway. Their blasts tore through the demons and blew away chunks of the buildings alongside them, where the witches and apes once lived.

Orleans took a quick look behind to see they were running out of building to hide within. "We cannot hold out here for much longer!" He called out to everyone, motioning to the open space around them. "But we need to keep this battle in front of us! We cannot let them surround us!"

"Just give me a few minutes and I might be able to give us all a few more!" Shaydince yelled out before she ducked off behind everyone else.

"Let's give it to her!" Orleans roared as he launched a large energy wave half the width of the passage at the demons, ripping through a dozen or more of them at once.

In turn, every one of the other witches followed in unison, using up more of their energy to hold off their oppressors for only a few more minutes. Jade and Amber were doing the same, throwing concentrated energy attacks towards the demons, only instead of using their own energy they were using the latent energy hanging in the surrounding air. This was a technique used more by elder witches so they could better preserve their terra, and it was what Jade and Amber had been raised to do – something that most youths were not. This variation of energy was sometimes not as powerful as the energy one could pull from their own body, but they were finding it to be just as effective against these lower level creatures.

Everyone held off the demons as best they could with the space they had, giving Shaydince a good seven minutes as they got moved back far enough to push her out into the open space, holding the huge ball of energy she had formed. But it was no matter because she was ready.

"Down," she yelled out as she turned and ran towards her fellow witches.

All of them ducked in unison except Jade and Amber. Marigny and Palmisano had to pull the two witches down just as Shaydince stepped off of Dogru's back to leap in the air. She was throwing out her arms, pushing the energy inside the ball outwards in a massive wave of white light that barreled through the entire stretch of passageway. That wave of white came ripping through rows of those ancient creatures, tearing chunks of stone from the buildings and exploding out into the wider army of demons on the other side!

The witches had pulled themselves out of the walkway, Shaydince breathing deep as Dogru helped her to walk.

"I should not have... done that." Shaydince struggled to say without breath.

"You did wonderful, my dear!" Orleans encouraged her. "Now it's our job to keep you safe while you recuperate."

He led the witches around to the other side of the buildings, where they could see the massive number of demons that still stood against them. Everyone was waiting behind him, staring in awe.

"How are we going to do this?" Palmisano asked aloud.

Marigny was looking over with a smile. "I wouldn't worry about a thing," he said while stepping around him.

"We cannot fear them!" Orleans tried to encourage everyone. "Fear is for the weak!"

Marigny appeared in a flash at his side, Palmisano right behind him.

"So what should we do now?" Marigny asked anxiously.

"I think we should get their attention." Orleans told him.

"No, we should wait and get behind them." Palmisano disagreed and threw in his two cents.

"Ha!" Marigny laughed forcefully in Palmisano's face as he hopped forward and tossed a small ball of energy high into the air. "This is how it's frening done!"

As Marigny held up his arms, the ball began to grow in size, becoming a bright yellow that matched the sun as it fell back into the middle of the demon mass and exploded, blowing up a large chunk of the ground and any demons around it! All the rest found themselves momentarily confused, taking a moment to figure out where the blast had come from and never quite getting back into rank as they turned to charge with logic abandoned.

Not all of those demons had seen them and none had pointed the witches out, so most simply followed after the others in the lead. Orleans saw the confusion through the hanging dust and took advantage of the mistake.

"Follow me," he yelled out as he turned and led the way towards a lone building to the south of them, with all the witches following close behind him.

They ran through the rubble of the once thriving city, jumping over the collapsed and burned homes that once throbbed with life. Dogru still had the arm of Shaydince draped across his shoulders, holding up much of her weight as he was basically carrying her along.

Orleans looked back to see exactly what he was hoping: a small group of demons that saw the witches up ahead of the larger group that did not, with a large space of maybe three minutes time in between them.

"We are going to turn and fight... on my word!" Orleans yelled out. "Dogru, you keep Shaydince out of harm's way. The rest of us have two minutes. Now... word!"

All the witches stopped and turned at once, throwing up dust as Dogru ducked behind the group with Shaydince in his arms. They then charged the demons with swords drawn, slashing and slicing them to pieces. One after another went dropping into the dirt as the witches looked to be dancing through them, making short work of the fifty or so that were up ahead of their pack in a minute and a half, leaving a massive puddle of blood behind as Orleans led them into the building beyond.

"I need someone to bring this place down on top of them!" Orleans told everyone, looking for volunteers.

To his surprise, the ones to answer were his two newest fighters.

"We can do it!" Both Jade and Amber said at the same time.

"Good," Orleans said, talking as he ran next to them. "I need you two to take Shaydince and get ahead of us, through the building and out the other side. I don't care how you do it. Blow a hole in the damn wall if you need to. I just need you on the opposite side of this building for when we come out. And as soon as you see us exit, I mean the second we're clear of it, I don't give a damn if there are a dozen demons right on our ass, you blow the whole thing to shit. Got it?"

"Understood," they both said, stepping back to take Shaydince from a reluctant Dogru.

"Do not worry. She will be in good hands." Jade assured him before taking her and moving up ahead of everyone. They ran into the gutted out building, side by side, racing through torn apart hallways and ducking under fallen ceilings to get to the other end of it. As they reached its end, Orleans was already barking out commands to the other witches as they entered into the building separately.

"Stand back," Amber told Jade as she blasted a hole in the wall large enough for them to exit out of, and they ran back outside on the opposite end of the building.

"We are going to let as many of those bastards as possible get in here before we leave," Orleans told the rest of the witches, "Then we have to stay together as we make our exit!"

Behind them, the demons could be heard piling in, rushing through the broken halls after their magical prey, their hoofs and claws smacking and scrapping across the stone floor, _clink-scratch, clink-scratch_. The witches stopped in a large empty room with a small door as an entrance.

"Keep your backs to that far wall! Do not let them get behind us!" Orleans shouted out a few last second instructions before they turned around to face the pursuing demons.

Marigny pulled out his sword, ready for the fight as he ignited its blade with terra. The warlock had his eyes on the lead demon about to run into the room when he watched an energy bolt explode on the demon's face, knocking it down. Now his attention turned to the next demon in line. As it entered he took a step towards it and had it knocked back into the demon behind it from a blast to its chest. After watching a bit longer, the sword started shaking in his hands as he watched demon after demon drop onto the ground without him ever taking a single swing.

"Damn it! Let _me_ get one!" The pumped up foolheart growled, adrenaline throbbing inside him.

Palmisano laughed as he tossed another blast of energy at the demons entering the room. "Maybe if you would put down that sword, you would be able to," he told him.

Marigny growled again as he put his sword back in its scabbard and charged up his arms with energy.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Palmisano asked in surprise as the entire room began to glow with a deep red.

"Frening getting one," Marigny growled back at him as he unleashed a violent wave of energy from his hands, crumbling most of the wall and dozens of demons along with it!

The warlock was laughing wildly as Palmisano pulled at him. More demons were still rushing into the building as ceilings started to collapse around them.

Orleans had his arm out and his palm facing the demons when he saw Marigny's blast overtake his view. He watched it rip through the beasts already in the room first, before watching as the subsequent eruption ripped the wall apart and began to trigger the ceiling to crumble downward, while at the same time burning though more demons outside in the halls. That is when he spun his arm around to point it at the wall behind them.

"Good enough!" Their leader called out, blasting a hole through it for the rest of them to exit out of.

Back outside the building Jade and Amber were standing next to each other as they saw that wall explode ten feet to the left of them, and the other witches began to hop out of it.

"Are you ready?" Amber asked Jade.

"I am!" Jade confirmed.

Shaydince was sitting down on the ground behind them, wondering why they hadn't been charging up their energy this entire time.

"Is that everyone?" Amber asked.

"I believe so!" Jade said as she watched Orleans leap out of the hole in the wall behind everyone else.

"Alright," Amber called out.

Together they both yelled, "Energy, combine! Concentration, combine! Ravage attack... ready!!!"

"Are they frening chanting together now? By the gods," Marigny commented as Palmisano dragged him away from the building.

The two young witches held their palms out together; their thumbs interlocked as they pulled in the energy from around them and released their own personal terra from within themselves at once, combined into one massive implosion of power.

All sound seemed to be stripped away as they yelled out in silent unison, "Go!"

While their screams became muted out, a massive stream of energy poured forth from their hands, the ground rumbling beneath everyone's feet. That thickening wave twisted in the air around as it barreled towards the building, ripping into the stone and exploding violently. In a show of sheer concentration the entire structure came collapsing onto itself without throwing out any large chunks of debris, everything perfectly torn down in a matter of only a few short seconds.

Shaydince watched with wide eyes from behind the two new witches, amazed at the power they possessed. She considered herself a master at gathering energy, but what they were doing was like nothing she had ever seen before. The rest of the witches ran to their side as the dust from the collapsed building expanded throughout the air. Dogru was the first one there, kneeling at the side of Shaydince to shield her.

"I am okay," she told him as she got up to her feet.

"Wow," Boyle commented as he looked from the two new witches over to Marigny, "Beautiful _and_ deadly. Who needs a frening army when you've got witches like this? Good job, indeed."

"Did that get all of them?" Sprug asked.

No one wanted to respond until the dust had settled. But as it did, there was not a demon in sight.

"I think it may have." Orleans confirmed just as a sound from behind them caught their collective attention.

Everyone turned around to see what the rumble in the air could be, at the same moment when multiple strikes of lightning abruptly cracked the sky at once... and a torrential rain began to fall from out of nowhere,.

The loud and constant rumble of thunder followed another bundle of lightning strikes. It filled their ears as the black clouds above blocked out the sun as suddenly as the rain had arrived, with a frigid wind accompanying the storm to swirl around the witches. Each one of them felt an odd chill rise into the air, but Orleans knew waiting around to shiver wasn't an option.

"Regardless of any weather, we have to keep moving!" he said loud enough for his team to hear over the rain before leading the way through the city, towards the hill that separated them from the castle.

Palmisano made his way up to Orleans, moving around the other witches as Marigny followed behind him. "That was too easy, lord. We should not rush into things like this."

Marigny scowled at him from behind. "Too easy, huh... don't you mean that good?" he gloated quietly.

"You are too cautious, kindlefell," Orleans told the young wizard. "Caution can keep you alive, but it can also unintentionally harm someone else. We were cautious upon our arrival, and we paid for it. Now, things are different. You still have much to learn in regards to battle, and I intend to teach it to you. But for now, you should focus that energy on putting these drakers into graves. I assure you... I will get us inside that castle without losing anymore lives. You just have to follow my lead."

Palmisano nodded, knowing there was nothing more he could do to change his mind. But as they reached the foot of the hill, something else did.

# (Part 3)

# (To End All Doubt)

The twenty-five witches were standing at the foot of the tallest part of the hill, with Orleans, Palmisano and Marigny up front, staring up at the waves of demons that poured over the hilltop like an oncoming tide – a tsunami of red and black muscle, rumbling onshore from the sea. Yet before anyone could do anything, before they had a chance to even think of doing anything, balls of flame began falling alongside the rain.

"We have to move, now!" Orleans yelled out as he led the witches along the hill to the east, the ground exploding around them.

Several witches were launching energy blasts in return, believing that every demon they killed now would be one less demon later. Orleans knew it was more urgent, that they had to get out of such a wide open area as fast as they could. Until then, they were like moving targets in the clearing at the bottom of the hill, simply waiting for the demons to pick them off.

"Keep moving, damn it!" Orleans told the witches as he came to a halt, spinning around to face the horde of oncoming demons, all alone. "I won't lose anyone else!"

He roared as a wide array of energy waves was launched from each of his hands, moving the attacks from left to right until he missed the demons entirely. Several witches glanced back in bewilderment at what had happened until they realized what he had done. Orleans hadn't been aiming at the demons at all. He was aiming at the hill beneath them, the same technique that Marigny used two weeks prior, and he blew it to pieces beneath their feet. The entire ground rumbled with his blast, sending dirt flying into the air as their foes began tumbling into the opened land.

"Go! Go!" Orleans yelled to his team, waving his arms as he ran back towards them, soil beginning to tumble down behind him.

They managed to escape the avalanche of earth and run up a part of the hill that was farther east. Meanwhile, the demons were starting to move around the hole in the ground, to the west and away from their prey. Orleans saw it happening and used it to his advantage, moving his team down the other side of the hill where they could now see Coastal Castle on the other side.

"Regroup and calm yourselves," the named lord of these surviving warriors kept his voice low as he stopped everyone at the hill's peak, trying to put a last minute plan together as they all huddled together beneath the pouring sky. "We need to think big if we plan on defeating these scum. They may seem to be double the number of the last group, but they are all just as frening ignorant. All they wish is to fight, so we can lead them into any situation we choose. They will see us soon and come running haphazardly right at us, and we need a plan for when they do so. But I cannot form another attack for another few minutes."

"Well, I guess that means it's my turn!" Marigny stepped up in front of everyone, "Finally."

"Marigny, this is no time for games!" Palmisano shouted, almost embarrassed at his outburst.

"What?" Marigny asked, drawing the word out as he turned around to look at Palmisano for a moment, "I don't play games, kindlefell. As a matter of fact, I hate games. But I _am_ going to hold them off. And you know what? You should take it as a compliment. I wouldn't want you to get those pretty little wizard hands of yours dirty. So if you don't mind... I believe it's your turn to step aside." He proceeded to flip his right hand open in front of him, Palmisano sliding out of its path as he aimed right at the center of the demon mass, waiting for them to reach the top of the hill a half mile or so away.

"Now... I'll show you all an attack worth speaking of, one truly worth chanting about..." Marigny said under his breath before screaming out, "And it needs no frening description! Haaaagggghhh!"

An enormous blast of white hot energy wrapped in blacked flame erupted from his hands to tumble towards the demons, cutting through the falling raindrops and ripping up the ground with its force alone. The demons tried running and diving from its path and some of them actually avoided a certain death. But there were far too many of them for such a tremendous wave of terra to miss. As a red energy began to swirl around the surging black and white – sparking it with additional power – it ripped through the middle of their ranks, completely evaporating any demon in its path!

Marigny laughed maniacally as he watched his blast crash into the ground, chunks of earth being tossed high into the air, further collapsing the hill onto the demons that had gotten out of the way. "There... that should do them frening good!" the warlock yelled out as his laughter lowered to a sick chuckle.

The rest of the witches could do no more than gasp in amazement at how many demons he'd managed to delete from existence.

"Great shot, Marigny!" Orleans shouted out, "Now, let's finish the drakers off!"

Orleans led the way as they charged through the rain. Those remaining were scattered all over and unable to regroup by the time the witches reached them. Those witches already had their swords drawn and immediately began slashing away at the already shaken demons, spreading out across the hill to reach to them all. There was hardly a hundred demons left standing after Marigny's blast, and the witches made sure to topple each one, leaving their bloody corpses in the dirt for their highers to see.

The confused demons stood no chance against the rejuvenated witches. Their steel swords ripped through red and black flesh faster than they could have ever thought possible, lifting a mist of crimson up into air to mix with the rain as it splashed onto the ground. Thus within a few flashes of lightning the mass of demons that was chasing them down to a sure death only moments before had been made null and void. Marigny had run over to slice the final two in half with as many swings of his sword.

The witches were now left standing alone atop the shattered hill, surrounded by an army of corpses. Now all that remained was getting inside the walls that surrounded Coastal Castle.

The rain continued to pour down upon them, wind swirling around to whip that rain in every direction. But onward they marched.

Orleans held out his sword to point at the massive structure – rain stinging his face, washing his blade clean of blood. "Victory awaits us beyond those walls!" he yelled over the roar of the storm. "All we need to do is take it!"

"Yeah!" Marigny hollered, followed by several other battle cries behind him, now in the lead as the group took off down the hill for the castle.

"Wait, we must not rush into this!" Palmisano could be heard in the back, screaming at everyone. "This is a bad idea! All of this was a bad idea!"

But the witches charged the castle gates, regardless. Marigny threw energy blasts at the door, trying to break it down, but each blast did nothing more than evaporate into the thick wood. Other blasts of energy were flying from behind him, but still each one of them seemed to dissipate upon impact.

Marigny was the first to reach the giant double-door and bang his fists against it, yelling out, "Open these gates, you cowards, and fight us! Was that the best you had back there?! Because that is the epitome of frening pathetic! Now, show yourselves and let us get this over with!"

All the other witches were crowded up behind him when the doors began to crack open. On the other side stood a single demon - this one twice the size of Avyyz, with muscles bulging out and thick veins throbbing with the anger that ran through them, but his head was not nearly as small. This demon had an elongated face, stretched out snout and widened jaw, with broad shoulders on each side of it, long arms hanging down, and his legs built like tree trunks.

Orleans already understood there was no holding back any longer, and he stepped up beside Marigny to face the demon, both witches sensing the shifts in the air as the monster's energy swirled around them.

"Be weary... this one is very powerful." Orleans warned, never letting his eyes off the giant demon.

"Agh, he doesn't look that tough." Marigny gloated, "This should take only a few minutes of our time."

The demon smiled at Marigny's comment, its head leaning back slightly as he spoke in a deep and warped voice, "This will not be as easy as you believe, little witch."

"Little, huh... what?" Marigny groaned in annoyance as he asked, "Do I look pretty to you? Does it look like I run around casting spells and chanting little rhymes?" He pointed his sword towards their large opponent as he answered himself, "No, I kill with my hands... whether bare, blade or blast! I am a Warlock, not a witch or a frening foolheart, and not some typical frening warlock, either! No, I am a _warwalker..._ a walking frening battlefield! And this is what my race was born to do... fight! Carnage runs like blood through my veins! Escape, for me, is only when death forces shut my eyes from this life! I run from nothing! And I wait for no one! So... make your frening move, _demon._ "

As a smile broke across the demon's face, off in the back of the crowd Palmisano could be heard shouting once again, "Behind us! They are coming from behind us!" And the screams of their fellow witches being killed followed shortly thereafter.

As Marigny and Orleans had their attentions ripped away from the higher demon, Palmisano leapt immediately into action, drawing his sword and swinging his way into the new mass of onrushing lower demons.

Several unlucky witches who were not paying close enough attention were attacked instantly by this new group of demons. Talisa got split wide open from behind, the blade of a demon splicing all along the length of her spine. Chanlo was swung at next and sliced across the right shoulder as he tried to back away. And Sprug had a ball of flame burn into his leg, bringing him to the ground to be trampled as he fought for new footing. But by that point everyone was already turning around to Palmisano's screams. They saw that not only were the lower demons attacking, but also a mixture of the far more powerful mutated demons.

In a matter of seconds the witches were in the thick of an underhanded assault. These demons had been waiting in the eastern forest alongside the castle for this exact moment – the last resorts.

Orleans and Marigny could not get back to help as they were charged just as suddenly by this newest higher demon. This quickly put the two witches on the defensive as he attacked them with a furious vengeance, but Marigny talked trash the entire time.

"Is that as fast as you can move, you giant scum?" he asked the demon as he moved away from the slash of his clawed hand.

The demon responded with another slash as Orleans shot a blast of energy from behind. His demonic opponent felt it coming and spun around, slapping the terra out the air. The energy ball exploded into the ground in front of Marigny, leaving the warlock to leap through the flying chunks of dirt, drawing his sword and lunging at the beast.

The demon turned its attention back to Marigny and knocked that sword from his grasp with the simple swing of his hand. The warlock's momentum, though, was still carrying him forward, eyes following his sword as it bounced in the dirt, and he ran right into that demon's outreaching knee. Spit and blood flew from his mouth as the demon's knee was rammed into his gut.

Marigny had been shoved aside as Orleans charged from the left, their demonic foe side stepping the sword strike of the old wizard and throwing its palm into his chest, knocking him back twenty feet!

Marigny hunched over his sword on one knee, still holding his gut. He had to admit this new opponent was much stronger than he had realized at first, and judging from its stance this demon looked ready to charge him again. That's when he decided to try and waste some time.

"I'll admit it... you're a little stronger than I thought you'd be," the warlock stated in a groan of defeat, trying to feed its ego. "So, uh, since this seems like the end and all... you should at least let me know the name of the supreme warrior who is about to slay me."

The demon stood still, tilting its head slightly to look curiously at the little warlock.

Marigny continued his fallacy by lowering his head in shame, taking his eyes off of his opponent to better sell the false defeat.

The demon began to laugh, leaning backwards with humor. "You expect me to believe that you, _the warwalker himself,_ has actually been defeated after just one blow?" He stopped laughing. "I have watched you fight, Marigny, and I do not believe a word of it."

In the blink of an eye the monster had him by the throat. "My name is Ambusch, and you have let down your guard for the last time... _witch_!" It growled into his face, claws extended and ready to punch straight through Marigny's chest.

Orleans had been running towards them the entire time, and with only a second left he jumped forward and latched onto that arm, leaving Ambusch looking back to try and shake off this new pest. At the same time, though, Marigny, still in the clutches of the demon, swung his arm up and drove his glowing red fist right into the demon's jaw. This staggered Ambusch enough for him to drop free, but still swung Orleans right into his friend.

The legs of Orleans swung around with his knees clobbering Marigny right in the side of the head. The two dropped down onto the ground like dead weight before pulling each other back up as quickly as they could. And as they battled with the higher demon inside the walls of the castle, the rest of the witches were fighting off the new army of demons right outside.

Palmisano fought with intensely, cutting through them and throwing energy blasts left and right. He was fighting alongside the elder witch Evette, who had already saved him more than once. The first time Palmisano did not even notice. But the second time, he felt the blood splatter onto his back, still paying no mind to it. Another witch, Relayna, was right alongside of him – a sword in one hand and a terra-charged whip in the other – cutting down the demons behind Evette.

"You see? You don't have to love me for me to still care about you!" Relayna yelled out to Evette, trying to ease their troubled relationship.

Evette allowed her a quick smile before moving over to aid the younger witch Tegan, who seemed to be having a bit of trouble fighting the mutated demons off. The young witch had already lost her sister in the initial attack and had been sidetracked ever since. Evette knew that was a sure way to get killed, and she had to help out. Throwing a small hatchet, the witch guided it around the heads of a dozen other demons to stick it right into the back of the demon's neck that was attacking Tegan from her blindside.

The demon dropped at Tegan's side, startling her and spinning her half around to look at Evette approaching from behind.

"Stay focused!" Evette yelled to her, pointing out ahead as Relayna followed silently behind.

Tegan turned back around and side stepped the slashing claws of another. She let the demon's momentum carry it past her and stabbed one of her handheld axes in and out of its back. Tegan nodded in thanks to Evette, immediately stepping back and slashing that axe across the throat of another onrushing beast. All she needed to do was stop letting the death of her sister weigh her down and start avenging it.

The wizard Chargon jumped past on her right side, slicing through a demon with his energy-sharpened staff in one hand and shooting a spray of energy blasts with the other. One of those blasts hit its target right in the face, flipping a stray attacker backwards.

All the witches were bunched up together in the middle of the mass, attacks coming from all sides. Then the words of Palmisano filled everyone's ears, "Spread out, damn you! We need to spread out! We can't just be smothered here!"

But the witches remained in close proximity to each other, not paying any attention to the wizard's warnings.

With Orleans on his back, he heard Palmisano yelling and looked out beyond the castle gates to see how bad things were. What he saw may have seemed innocent, but disturbed him deeply.

The demons had the witches surrounded, too thick to even peer into the crowd. But the waken was well aware that if they did not listen to Palmisano, they would soon be overwhelmed.

"Listen to him, damn it!" Their leader yelled out from his back, "Listen to everything Palmisano says! He has command now!" He knew that neither he nor Marigny would be able to lead them from where they were.

Thus, to Palmisano's complete surprise, everyone started listening, and he began to spread them out along the castle walls, thinning out the demons and making them easier to deal with.

Back inside the gates the higher demon responded to the calls of Orleans by shooting a line of flaming energy right at him, but the wizard managed to roll away from it as the ground beside him exploded with fire. It was around that time when Marigny got back to his feet, and he quickly charged their overgrown opponent, swinging wildly to no avail. Ambusch was easily blocking each strike with nothing more than the thick muscles of his forearms, laughing as he did so. The demon finally decided to end the assault and kicked Marigny right in the gut with the pointed toe of his foot, bending him over. The higher demon would follow it up by lifting his knee straight into the warlock's face, popping him back up, and then head-butting him straight in the mouth to knock him down onto his ass!

Ambusch had already launched a ball of flame at the dazed warlock, and all Marigny could manage in defense was to lift his sword to block it. That flame exploded onto it as burning embers flowed around the blade and shot directly into his face. Temporarily blinded, Ambusch had his hand held out to do it again when Orleans came from out of nowhere to kick the demon's arm to its side. As Ambusch turned his head to look down at the waken in surprise, the demon got a prompt blast of red hot energy right across the cheek!

Back outside, Palmisano ran along the outer walls of the castle, still slashing through demons and barking out orders to his fellow witches, doing his best to keep everyone alive. The young wizard did not plan on being in charge of anything. But he didn't plan on anyone else getting killed, either. As surveyed the witch's lives that now depended on his organizational skills, he started finding things to do. After having his left arm immobilized Chanlo had hardly been holding his own, and Palmisano was worried about him.

A demon then came charging from out of nowhere. In response, Palmisano swung from right to left, right at its gut, and the demon leapt over his strike, latching onto the castle walls behind him with its claws extended. The mutated demon turned its head wickedly and roared back at the wizard before leaping back down at him, prompting Palmisano to jump up and meet it halfway with a slash across the gut, severing its body in two!

But as soon as his feet touched back onto the ground, he was met by another loud demon swinging his claws for a kill. With one pivot of his left foot, Palmisano shut it up by lopping off its head.

"Keep it up! This is how they die! Stay active and remain focused and we will win this!" The young wizard shouted out encouragement as he passed the open castle gates and peaked in at Orleans and Marigny's fight with the higher demon.

Orleans had blasted the demon right in the face at point blank range, but Ambusch did not drop. Instead, an arm extended a fist out into a surprised Orleans' face, knocking him back. The face of the demon had been blackened, but it did not seem to harm it. Instead, it only served to further piss him off.

Ambusch swung violently at Orleans, pushing him up against the wall of a small building. The next swing sent the arm of Ambusch straight through that wall as Orleans moved out of the way.

Ambusch roared while trying to pull his arm out of the wall, with Orleans quickly realizing he was stuck. With a grunt of aggression his sword swung at the demon's back, slicing through its thick flesh. As blood poured onto the ground, Ambusch looked back at Orleans, swinging around with his free hand and snarling angrily.

With his attention on Orleans, Marigny got up to his feet and charged the demon. Orleans stood just out of its reach as the young warlock came from its blind side, swinging his sword high from right to left, and lopped off the demon's head in one clean cut!

The body of Ambusch collapsed to hang from the wall as his head rolled alongside his feet, arm still stuck in the stone. Marigny's eyes wasted no time in turning his attention farther down the paved dirt towards the castle ahead, beyond the smaller buildings that surrounded it. Orleans, though, immediately turned the other way and began to head towards the action outside. But he was stopped by Marigny as the warlock pointed at their true destination.

"We should move forward," he suggested.

"Yes, but we cannot go alone." Orleans was clear as he ran outside the gates.

The wizard tandem of Harkiss and Ogar raced passed, chasing after a group of five or so demons. Two of those demons got their legs tangled together and slipped to the ground. Ogar couldn't help but trip over one of them and coincidently have his giant warhammer smash the skull of the other one. As that first demon tried to get up, Lord Orleans stabbed it back down as he smiled and nodded at the clumsy warlock. Harkiss was there to help his new friend up as they went back to chasing demons.

The witch Evette wasn't far away, throwing energy blasts at any beast that came close to her, as was Relayna. The rest of the witches were all doing the same around him, having their way with the demons. He wanted to smile at the coordination of his team, seeing how despite being outnumbered they still had things completely under control now that Palmisano had spread them out.

That's when Orleans spotted Boyle throwing a recently stabbed demon at another one that was charging at him, evaporating them both.

The waken called out to him. "Boyle, I need you to take things over out here!"

Boyle gave him a quick thumbs up as Orleans called out again to Palmisano. "Palmisano, gather up our two lovers and get inside these gates!"

Palmisano heard Orleans and quickly did away with the demon he was fighting with. "Dogru, Shaydince, you heard him... let's go!!" he yelled out as he ran through the separate crowds of demons towards the opened castle gates.

Relayna was calling out to Evette, "That could have been us!"

Marigny wasted no time in moving forward, "We're going to have some fun with this frening castle!"

Orleans pushed his way through the demon crowds to find Amber and Jade tearing the monsters apart. "I need you two with me!" He yelled out to them, trying to be heard over the still pouring rain. "I might need your help inside those gates!"

The young witches smiled and followed him back inside the castle gates, where they met up with Marigny and Palmisano. Shaydince and Dogru were not far behind, and the seven witches set off, at last, towards the Coastal Castle.

* * *

The seventeen witches who remained outside Coastal Castle battled with the left over demons, totaling no more than a hundred in all at that point. Those witches were being led by the trustworthy wizard Boyle, but he barely had to give any orders as everyone seemed to be doing just fine on their own.

The twins, Hani and Yani, were still out there, working their way around the different crowds, shooting down unsuspecting demons from a distance.

Evette remained planted in one spot, letting the demons come at her and slashing them down as they did, with Relayna not far away doing exactly the same.

The young witch Tegan was being bogged down by the mutated demons as they ganged up on her. But she seemed to fight better with her back against a wall, as long as it was a solid and physical wall, that is – as opposed to the emotional wall she had trouble breaking through earlier. So as they pushed the witch up against the castle wall, five of them at once, she took them out one at a time as they came at her.

She forced nothing, exactly as Evette had instructed.

The last one swung at her with claws extended, forcing her to use the close range technique Evette had shown her weeks before. It was simple, yet effective. She grabbed the demon's hand and snapped it at the wrist. This caused her attacker to roar out as it swung again with its good hand. Tegan reacted quickly and spun away to dodge the strike. She then kicked off the wall to back flip over the demon's head, swinging the blade of her axe downwards as she landed it in the draker's neck!

The older witch Elisa slipped around two more and with one swing sliced both across the back and sent them twirling to the ground in a splatter of blood. By that point Sprug was back on his feet and limping past her, swinging an axe to shatter through the chest of one demon before spotting another charging at the back of a witch nearby. "Fayth, turn around!"

With a demon already in front of her, swinging a stone sword at her face, Fayth reacted. Instead of even trying to block it, the witch slid to the side and took a step forward, giving the demon just enough of a nudge for that sword it was swinging to wind up in the unseen demon's shoulder. It all happened in a split second, but worked out perfectly. All Fayth had to do at that point was swing her hammer through the skull of her opponent-still-in-shock, and that was that. It felt strange, though. Unlike the lower demons, this mutated demon seemed to show emotion upon killing another of its own, enough to give the witch a free swing, but at the time it hardly even seemed like something she should worry about.

Meanwhile, Harkiss and Ogar fumbled through the crowd of demons, one swinging a massive warhammer while the other chucked around an oversized battleaxe. The destructively clumsy tandem ran past the warlock Chanlo, one arm limp at his side and the other bashing through whatever body part got in the path of his spiked hammer. Tamara would come through momentarily to aid him, but he seemed to need no assistance.

The elder wizard Chargon used his staff to guide a blast of energy directly through the chest of an oncoming demon, while off behind him the young Slanded did the same, only without a staff. He had much pent up energy to spare, and he did not shy away from using it – spinning in circles to toss out precise orbs of terra and bring down attacker after attacker. Vayence had recovered well from her earlier wound but had found herself encircled by a mob of demons. In turn, Slanded carefully blasted each one down, one after another, never even allowing her to get one herself.

Finally, the warlock Mykus battled alongside Boyle within the largest crowd. He was the sole survivor of clan Venderin. Their adversaries, on the other hand, the Carvos clan, despite all of those internal preparations... they had been completely decimated, leaving no survivors.

* * *

Inside the castle walls Orleans led his team of six towards their destination. But before they could reach it, a lone demon stepped onto their path, stopping the seven witches where they stood.

It was not like any demon they had yet to see, not grotesquely ugly or enormously muscular, or any other sort of overgrown monstrosity. Instead, the hauntingly elegant figure of an oddly beautiful female demon stood before them. Her skin a dark red, almost scale-like, yet still seemed to be rather soft. She had a sleek figure with a thin waist, covered by a black dress of molten ash that wrapped down her long red legs, with a slit up the rear of it – presumably for both movement as well as seduction. The chiseled peaks of her robust red chest pushed up tight against the blackened top of lava that was wrapped around the back of her neck, leaving space for the thin tail that hung down her backside. Her face stretched thin with hair like fire hanging down her back to wrap around her waist.

Orleans was staring at the demon like one might stare at a ghost. This demon almost winked in return as she began to walk slowly towards them, one drawn out step at a time.

"What is she... a beauty or a beast?" Palmisano asked the obvious.

"Looks like a beauty if I've ever seen one," Marigny rambled on with a smile across his face, "Simply stunning."

"Oh, she brings no pleasure, I assure you. Do not allow these seductions to fool you." Orleans warned, never letting his eyes off of her. "She is a monster that brings nothing but despair."

Both Marigny and Palmisano looked over simultaneously.

"You speak as if you know her." Palmisano couldn't help but comment.

"You should introduce me." Marigny rang in right behind him, still smiling.

The young wizard glanced over at him with an ugly look, and the warlock just shrugged his shoulders.

"I suggest for all of you to keep moving." Orleans ordered. "I will take care of her... alone."

"Damn, I was thinking the same thing!" Marigny cursed under his breath.

"Are you sure?" Palmisano asked, ignoring the warlocks comments.

"She is far more dangerous than her power signature lets on," Orleans told them.

"Exactly my point," the younger wizard added. But Orleans was already shaking his head.

"No... I do not believe any of you are ready to face the kind of evil she represents. Not here, not yet."

Palmisano was staring at the demon as she walked closer to them, unsure of why they would split up at this juncture.

Then, "Go, before it is too late," Orleans ordered them away. "You know what must be done!"

Palmisano nodded his head with reluctance and pulled Marigny away with him. The other four witches followed behind them, glancing back at Orleans as the demon got closer to him, paying no attention at all to them as they left. Palmisano did not feel good about leaving their leader alone with some seductive demon. He felt something odd about her. But he knew Orleans could handle himself.

"So, what are we doing now?" Amber asked, somewhat confused by what was happening.

"We are missing out on a damn good time, that's what." Marigny told her in all seriousness.

She and Jade looked over at him oddly before Palmisano answered her question more seriously, turning down a few alleyways before at last getting a peek at their true objective.

"We are taking back this land from the demons," the wizard replied with confidence. "And it all starts inside of that castle. That is where true victory begins... within the same shadows the demons are hidden. And somewhere within those demons hides the most powerful of them all."

"Oh, but he doesn't hide any longer." A voice said from their side.

"And neither do we," a second voice spoke from their other side. "With this storm feeding our rage... awakened, we have."

The witches stopped where they stood, each of them looking around to try and spot where the voices had come from, all except Marigny. Instead, he shivered at the sound of them, immediately recognizing who it was. It wasn't out of fear, but pure annoyance.

"Please tell me I'm hearing things," he moaned to Palmisano.

"I don't think you were," Palmisano had to admit as he shook his head.

"I can assure that you are not!" The first voice said again, a darkened figure stepping out of the shadows off to the right.

"And this is where your attempts at victory will stop!" The second voice rang out, another figure emerging to their left.

Marigny moved his eyes from one figure to the next, shaking his head in near physical pain after confirming his suspicions.

"You have come so far and fought quite well, defending your precious peace," the first voice said, immediately followed by the second, "But like a falling star, despite your choice of spell, this is where your adoring existence shall cease!"

Marigny stepped out in front of all the witches. "I cannot believe the two of you decided to show your faces to me again!" He yelled out, moving his eyes from one to the other. "This time, though... all the rhymes in the world will not stop me from smashing both of your skulls to dust!"

The warlock's words rang out loud as the rain began to slow, becoming a mere drizzle just as fast as it had arrived.

"It is not rhymes which you should fear!" Vhadaokod laughed out loud from one end of the walkway.

Shagtou chuckled before speaking out from the opposite end, "For this time... we are not the only ones here!"

"It matters not what words you shout!" Vhadaokod said clearly, followed by Shagtou with, "We are not the ones you should worry about!"

And then, right as the last syllable of the last word he spoke left his mouth, the castle doors burst open with explosive flame, two demons leaping through it and attacking the witches so quickly they did not even have time to get a glance at them.

The two demons moved incredibly fast and worked in tandem, but the witches were focused enough to keep their weapons drawn and make sure to block any strikes that came. None were sure who exactly threw the strikes, but made sure to feel where each one came from, paying attention to which direction the air was being sliced apart.

Then, with the six witches already having enough trouble keeping up with the speed of the two attacking demons, they were met with the challenge of fending off two more as Vhadaokod and Shagtou jumped into the mix. Marigny saw them and knocked them out of the pack.

"These two are mine!" He shouted as he put Shagtou on his ass, blocking a strike from Vhadaokod.

"Sure, you take the easy ones," Palmisano called back to him while trying to keep his eyes focused on the two mysteriously invisible demons that were attacking him with reckless intent.

Even though six witches were attacking only two demons, their opponents moved so fast it felt as if they were all being attacked at once. The pressure was relentless, and Palmisano knew the witches could not keep up with them forever. He had to make something happen and quickly decided to just throw a leg up into the air in the direction of an oncoming blur, hoping for the best as he chanced losing his foot. Yet to his surprise, his boot slammed right into the face of a second female demon!

This new female demon was then sent stumbling back into the other blur and a male demon caught her in his arms. This is when Palmisano finally got a good look at their newest attackers.

The female demon compared not nearly as attractive as the last. This one was shorter and much more muscular, almost to the point of being scary. The male demon stood just as muscular as his counterpart, with a small head, a single bump-like horn below its mouth, and an odd stance.

The female demon shook her head, shoulders bouncing up and down as she stood back up.

"Dare to do that again?" she asked, shocking everyone with a deep and masculine voice.

Palmisano found himself slightly distracted by the tone of it, but prepared himself to fight, nonetheless.

"Yeah, how about you try that while I'm watching next time?" the male challenged angrily, his voice all too feminine, downright startling Palmisano and the other witches.

"What in fury are you things?" Jade asked with a crooked glare.

"How dare you, you little witch! I'll...!" The male demon began to say, only being stopped by the upraised finger of the female.

"Do not underestimate us by the sound of our voices, as so many have before you, and as your friend has underestimated Vhadaokod and Shagtou. First impressions are only skin deep. It is only beneath the flesh where truth can be found."

At that moment Marigny could be heard yelling out as he fought with the other two, "Beneath the flesh, it is!"

The female demon only laughed as she motioned back at Vhadaokod and Shagtou. "Their charisma may make them seem weak, but they learned it from the best."

Palmisano shrugged his shoulders, not caring for anything she said. "And that would be...?" he asked, anyway.

"Us, you fool!" the female demon shouted back at him.

Again, Palmisano just shrugged his shoulders. "And... you are?"

"How dare you, little...!" the male demon started to say, and again was stopped by the upraised index finger of the female.

"We are the worst of your fears, the last of your days!" She raised her hands to form a small tornado of wind around herself. "We have defeated all tartarus has to offer! You can call us your death, but remember our names! The undefeated team of... Shalya!" She shouted out, spraying out flames into the air from her fingernails to rain down hot burning embers into the tornado around her.

The male demon was staring off into the sky when Shalya seemed to elbow him in the side. "Oh, right..."

"And Maelstrom!" He stepped behind her to strike a pose as the embers fizzled to the dirt, one arm twisted in front of his stomach and the other bent at the elbow near his head, showing off the muscle he did not have.

Shalya then spun around on her toes and came into a half bent over fighting stance. "The Terrible Two that cannot lose!"

Palmisano only nodded with arms folded across his chest, "Hmm hmm. Yup, I can definitely see the resemblance." He said at last, quickly unfolding his arms and swinging his sword right at Shalya's head.

* * *

Some hundred or so yards away, with Palmisano's attention focused on the two new demons, something was happening away from his sight, and behind everyone's back.

Orleans stood face to face with a ghost of his long-forgotten past, his mind flashing with memories of old. The wizard once stood side by side with this demon, even felt love for her at one time in his life...

But he had betrayed her. He worked from the inside to strip her race from existence, playing an instrumental role in Witchkind's efforts to destroy the demon race. In the end he did try to warn her. Orleans wanted to save her, and only her. Yet such a thing just wasn't possible, not unless she did something about it. His warning would ultimately be the cause for the demon's final, all out assault.

That assault failed... and she was taken forever from his arms.

That forever, however... that wasn't the end of anything, not at all...

No, because as it turned out, forever didn't last nearly long enough.

Three weeks before word reached the Elders of the demon's return, this former demon lover arrived at the waken's side. _'My kind has returned to your Terra to build their empire anew,'_ she warned. _'They will claim its soils while burning your wilderness and flooding your oceans with flame. Claiborne has taken rule and he will not be stopped until all life on your Terra has been extinguished. But together... together, Orleans, we can stop him. It doesn't have to be over between us... not if you still trust me.'_ The elder wizard looked shocked by her appearance, but listened intently as she explained the ancient powers they were trying to attain. _'You know your ancestors kept this knowledge from you for good reason,'_ she went on, but a gap seemed to be separating his memories from my grasp. The next words she said was, _'We can still be together.'_

It was clear that his memories were beginning to blur together as he tried to force them away, but one more popped up to the surface at the last second, _'You will make your way to Halflore, to the Coastal Castle. There, you will find me. And together, I will help you gain the power that your former superiors tried to hide from you, so that the infection that has taken hold of your Terra can be... properly dealt with.'_ His mind then managed to focus in on the present, and towards the gift she promised to help him find – whatever in fury it was.

"It has been a long time, Limonya." The wizard nodded in greetings to the demon beauty standing before him.

She chuckled at him, never even looking straight at his face. "Obviously not long enough," her eyes turned away from him. "You still look as though I am your enemy."

"I am here to stop the infection that your race has inflicted upon our Terra," he told her bluntly. "And I'm hoping that you might be willing to help."

She didn't chuckle this time. But she did look him right in the eyes. "I may be... willing, that is," she spoke slowly, spinning her hips before asking, "But who said anything about us being the cause of this infection?"

There was a long and awkward moment of silence between the two of them, finally being broken by the sound of Orleans' sword sliding out of its sheath as he charged the demon, "You've tricked me again!"

"You see, that's the thing..." She countered him by spinning around and whipping the sword right out of his hands with her tail, leaving the wizard to drop back and crawl away on his ass.

"You have grown weak with your age, waken." Limonya growled as she stalked him, tail whipping back and forth in annoyance. "And you attack me without reason."

"Oh, you know I have reason enough to attack you!" Orleans assured, "After all the death you have wrought, I...!"

"Don't," she stopped his words with one upraised finger. "None of that was me, you see. _I_ killed no one." She lowered her tone as she shifted the mood, "I was merely asking you a question that you did not want to answer. Am I correct?" she asked softly. "I know what you crave, Orleans, and it is not peace."

"You have no idea what you are talking about!" he barked out at her.

"Oh, but I think I do," Limonya countered with a smile. "And I believe I am getting closer to finding out what it is you truly seek. I already know, but... I'm just waiting for you to admit it to yourself. You've been distracted from this battle the entire time, and that distraction got many of your witches killed, you see. So... tell me, Orleans... what is it that distracts so much, such a mighty warrior like yourself?"

Orleans was mad.

That much was clear as he stared up at the demon woman standing above him. He was also doing a bad job of trying to keep her attention away from the fact that he wanted his sword back. Slowly scooting himself over towards it, she stepped with him each time, remaining at his side. Then, while scowling up at her, he made a move for it. In that same instant her foot had slid atop his hand, smashing his fingers beneath her boot!

"I am not blind, waken!" she yelled down at him as the old wizard yelped out and rolled away, getting to his knees.

"What do you frening want from me, damn it?!" Orleans asked her, rubbing and shaking his hand.

"I came to you for a reason," she made clear. "Of all the wizards and warlocks and whatever else you call yourselves, I trusted you with the knowledge I'd learned from the other side. I led you here, into Halflore itself, with the hopes that you could finally rise up and take what your Elders have kept from you, what you've always craved for yourself: power... and not just any power, but _true power_." She looked down at him with sure eyes. "And do not dare play ignorant about what I am talking about, damn you. I know damn well that you, more than anyone, can understand the significance of this place."

Orleans looked at her and took a deep breath, then smirked slightly. "You know me far too well, Limonya." He let out a chuckle of his own, finally giving in to her tempting glare. "I did, yes, I arranged it to where I would be the one to lead the assault on the Halflands, just like you told me. I switched the maps, chose my team, and despite nearly getting killed and having an unexpected wizard enter my ranks, it was all going so frening well. I thought he might get in the way, but I'm pretty sure he's already saved my life, twice. So Palmisano actually turned out to be quite a help. He and Marigny are getting along quite well. But now... now you need to tell me where we're going."

The two stared at each other for a long moment, Limonya still standing over the wizard. Then Orleans finally broke the silence." Please... lead the way."

Limonya smiled back, offering a hand to help him up. "I hope you know what you're getting yourself into. If we are to take this step together... there will be no turning back."

Orleans took her hand and was pulled up to his feet, smiling as he asked her, "Why would I ever want to look back with such beauty leading the way forward?"

* * *

Back outside the castle gates Boyle and the others were finishing up with the last of the mutated demons. The crowds of them had become pairs, and now nothing but lone demons ran around trying to stay alive. The twins chased them down as fast as they could, wanting to catch up with everyone else. But Boyle took his time, making sure not to exert too much energy on these weaker demons. He tried to tell the others to do the same.

"Do not waste your strength!" he called out as a demon got shot across the face. "We haven't even made it inside yet!"

Evette and Tegan were back to back at that point, each fighting with a lone demon, leaving Relayna to watch them as they fought. Both demons swung their stone swords down at the same time, and both witches ducked in unison. The bladed stone slabs swung down to bash into one another, allowing both witches to slip around and quickly open up the backs of each demon's skull, dropping them silently into the dirt.

Harkiss ran away from a charging demon when he tripped and fell onto the ground. In turn, the demon could not stop itself and tripped over the wizard. Ogar was right behind them, chasing after them both, and he tripped over Harkiss, as well. He fumbled with his hammer on the way down, but gained control of it just in time to ram it through the demon's skull and crush it into the ground.

Boyle spotted three more demons running around and pointed them out to the other witches. Chargon, Tamara, Slanded and Mykus began to converge, quickly joined by Elisa, Fayth and Sprug. The three demons gathered together for their final stand, but then decided to turn and run away into the castle gates.

"Do not let them get away!" Boyle yelled out, and they all chased after them.

The demons left their sight as they turned a quick corner, but Boyle and the other witches were right behind them, yelling, "Get back here, you cowards!"

* * *

As Orleans and Limonya were talking with each other, exchanging information and laying down the groundwork of their ultimate intentions, they heard something scurrying towards them. They both looked in the direction of the noise. Orleans heard Boyle shouting. In the next moment three demons came rounding around the corner, hissing and snarling at the elder wizard.

The eyes of Limonya grew wide as one of the demons lunged out at him. Orleans was in the process of reaching down to grab his sword off the ground, but was not going to reach it in time. So without any hesitation at all, Limonya reached her arm out, opened her palm and a second later that demon had its face blasted clean off. By that point Orleans had grabbed his sword and stood back up to slice open the next two.

The waken quickly turned back to Limonya, telling her, "You should disappear." But she was already gone.

As he looked around for her, Boyle and the other witches came charging around the corner. Just standing in place, the three demons splayed out around him, their leader was left staring at the chasing witches.

"Lord Orleans, you got them!" Boyle shouted happily as they came to a stop.

But Orleans didn't break his gaze as he stepped towards them, speaking seriously. "Do not ever chase after anyone like that, not ever again," he made it as clear as he could. "You never know what's waiting around the next corner. They might have been leading you into a trap. You are lucky it was only me."

Boyle bowed his head in apology. "You are right, lord. I was driven by emotion," he admitted.

"And you, of all wizards, should understand how acting on emotion can get you killed," Orleans added to his shame.

"I know. It will not happen again." Boyle conceded.

Some of the witches were wondering why Orleans was there and started looking around for the others.

Orleans saw this and quickly answered their unasked questions. "Worry about it later," he told Boyle. "Now come on, the others are up near the castle, and I'm sure our help would be much appreciated."

* * *

Back outside the doors of the Coastal Castle, with the rain now starting to drizzle down again, and more black clouds rolling in overhead to block the rising moon, the other six witches battled with the two demon teams. They had proven to be far more of a challenge than the witches had first thought.

Marigny still fought with Vhadaokod and Shagtou by himself, while the other five struggled with the Terrible Two, Shalya and Maelstrom.

Shaydince was knocked back onto the ground, forcing Dogru to step up and knock back her attacker. Maelstrom made a move over to Jade and jumped into the air, coming down with his sword pointed at her head. Jade looked up to see Dogru tackle the blur out of the air and roll along the ground with it.

Shalya traded blows with Palmisano up against the castle, back and forth, until she noticed Maelstrom in danger. In response she swung her sword at his head to force the wizard away and then dove over at Dogru, grabbing the clothes on his back to fling him into both Amber and Jade.

Maelstrom stood to his feet for when Palmisano charged Shalya from behind. Palmisano, though, saw him at the last moment and moved to avoid his strike, but Shaydince hopped back in to send a huge gust of wind driven rain at the demon, knocking him out of the wizard's way. Because of this Palmisano was allowed to keep charging forward, his sword pulled back and ready to strike the female demon. The only problem with that... Shalya heard him coming and swung around faster than his eyes could see, smacking him across the face with the back of her clawed hand!

Palmisano left his feet and got slammed into the stone walls of the castle. He slid down and landed hard on his side as Shalya turned towards Shaydince. The witch gathered up and sent a quick gust of wind at her, only for Shalya to negate it with the wave of her arm, rain exploding in the air between them.

Dogru could be seen running to intervene, but Maelstrom stepped out in front and swung for his head. Seeing the carved stone swinging towards him, Dogru slipped down onto his back and slid in the dirt to avoid the strike. After aborting his swing, Maelstrom spun around, exactly as Dogru was popping up to his feet. Both their swords of stone and steel collided to crack out loud, right alongside the sword of Shalya that was clashing against the duel sickles of Shaydince.

Dogru and Maelstrom were evenly matched, with neither giving up any ground, but Shalya had a clear advantage over Shaydince. The muscle-bound demon pushed the witch back with rapid sword strikes that she could barely keep up with. First she lost a single sickle, but as Shalya swung at the witch's neck, Shaydince blocked it with an upwards strike. That deflection promptly knocked both of their remaining weapons free from their hands.

Jade and Amber had found their feet again to aid the weakening witch, but it was only to be blown back by a giant blast of flame that Shalya sprayed towards them. In response to the streaming fire, unlatching two straps across her back, Amber pulled forth her rarely used battle fan. As webs of terra-enforced hemp flipped out to spread open wide and deflect the flames, the two witches began pushing back against them. Shalya wanted no part of them, and after a growl the muscular monster increased the pressure, releasing a steady flow of blue fire that lit the fan ablaze. Aborting the attempt and dropping the fireball into the dirt, the two young witches were left diving in opposite directions to avoid the subsequent explosion.

Shaydince was reaching down for one of her sickles as Shalya turned back towards her and kicked the witch across the face. This popped Shaydince up straight again and Shalya grabbed her by the face with one hand to begin repeatedly punching her in the gut with the other.

The demon's rough knuckles pounded against her ribs over and over until Shalya finally let go and allowed the witch to collapse down onto hands and knees.

The female demon had already reached down, grabbed her sword from off the ground and turned back towards the defenseless witch.

Jade and Amber were disoriented on the ground, still waiting to regain their vision from the flash of fire that nearly blew their heads off, serving as no help at all to their fellow witch, while Dogru was still busy holding the fiery Maelstrom at bay.

So with Shalya swinging that sword of stone down at the unblocked head of Shaydince, and with no one able to reach her in time, the young wizard of the Venderin clan, Mykus, ran unchecked through the ongoing melee and dove from out of nowhere to slip in between Shalya and Shaydince.

Going against all the selfishness his clan stood for, this wizard leapt in front of his fellow witch and straight into the path of the down-slicing stone with a sword of his own held out, already moving to deflect the oncoming deathblow. In turn the weapon of Shalya smashed right through that blade – her carved stone bending back his forged steel with ease – and then down into the shoulder of Mykus, tearing a hole through to his chest!

The last remaining Venderin had been killed, sacrificing his own life to save another, something few from his clan would have ever done.

Blood sprayed up into the face of Shalya as she flung the twitching warlock to the side to get back at Shaydince. But by the time she swung at her again, Dogru was free of Maelstrom and had snatched Shaydince up onto his shoulder to get her out of the way. Shalya's sword swung through the air, slicing through nothing but raindrops as the momentum pulled her forward, right into the energy filled fist of Boyle as he punched the beast straight across the face!

The old wizard expected to punch right through her skull with all the energy he had clasped within that hand and was left bewildered when he merely twisted her head slightly to the side. But then Dogru finished his motion by returning to spear the demon down onto the ground.

Still, Shalya was hardly shaken as she instantly popped up to her feet, drawing forth the all too confident shouts of Boyle as the second group had at last caught up with the first, "You have taken your last life, demon! And now you will pay for all the others you have stolen from this world!"

Shalya turned her head slowly back to face him, cracking her neck and smiling. "You will need to try harder than that," she let him know before getting smacked in the back of the neck by a chunk of stone thrown by Orleans, dropping her straight into the dirt.

"I wonder if _that_ was hard enough," he asked Boyle jokingly while stepping over the demon's body.

"For now, it seems to be." Boyle had to admit.

"Right, and something tells me 'for now' will not be long at all." Orleans agreed. "So listen... this will not stop until we find and kill the head demon. That is why I have to get inside that castle."

"Well, the doors are right there!" Marigny yelled as he blocked two sword strikes with his one blade, still battling with Vhadaokod and Shagtou off behind them. "I'll be finished here in three more swings!"

"Ah, yes, of course!" Orleans laughed strangely.

"Are you... okay?" Boyle asked him.

"No," Orleans admitted, "And not until all of this is over will I be okay again."

"Well, let's finish up out here so we can get in there and finish all of this... for good." Boyle told him with confidence.

Shalya already looked to be stirring on the ground behind them.

Orleans shook his head. "No, I need to get this over with now." He made it clear. "You take over out here... and I will see you when this is all finished, my friend."

The waken then took off towards the castle doors and disappeared inside without another word. Boyle watched him, worried that something might be wrong, but knowing that he had other things to take care of outside – such as the muscular female demon that was getting back up to her feet in front of him.

Further off to the side, on the other side of the open doors, Marigny continued to hold his own against both Vhadaokod and Shagtou. Chargon tried to help out, but found himself slashed across the face by the extended claws of Shagtou. Spinning to the ground the wizard clutched his left eye as blood oozed between his fingers. Marigny tried to use that moment to single out Vhadaokod, but Shagtou wasn't far behind.

Vhadaokod ducked under a sword strike from Marigny and slid to the side while Shagtou came charging, swinging wildly. The warlock, in turn, ducked under the attack and got behind him, stopping his momentum with his right foot planted in the dirt. He spun around quickly and had to jump over the blade of Vhadaokod, lifting himself into the air and letting the demon swing beneath him as he almost floated above him.

Below, he saw others running in to help. The first to arrive was Tegan, and as Marigny began his descent towards the dirt he saw the young witch charging recklessly, and watched Vhadaokod turn to face her.

"Get the fury back!" He yelled out to stop her, "Do not be frening fooled! Despite my insults these are no normal demons!"

But it was already too late.

Vhadaokod sent a blast into her shoulder that sent her flipping back through the air, and in a spiral of blood she came crashing down to the ground!

"Damn the frening fates!" Marigny growled as he took aim at Vhadaokod's head.

But just as the warlock touched the ground, his sword put aside as his terra-charged palm raised up through the drizzles of rain, Shagtou blasted him in the back and negated his attack completely! The shot sent him straight into the dirt, right next to Tegan.

Evette had rushed to the side of the young witch in a moment's notice, and Marigny bounced off the ground beside them a moment later. The twins, along with Relayna, Ogar and Harkiss, quickly arrived to take on the two demons as Evette tended to Tegan.

Back on the other side of the door, as the number of injured were mounting – Chargon, Shaydince, Tegan, and now Marigny – Boyle and Palmisano kept the Terrible Two occupied, with Jade and Amber en route to help them out, followed shortly by Sprug, Chanlo, Fayth, Vayence, Elisa, Slanded and Tamara.

Shalya had knocked two blasts of energy away with the backs of her hands and was beginning to worry Boyle, and that's when Jade and Amber came to his aid. The two of them quickly took her attention away from the old wizard with a barrage of sword strikes. Despite their rapid speed and excellent timing, however, Shalya still managed to dodge each attack while searching out and finding an opening to kick one of them away.

It was Jade who she sent rolling back onto her face as Amber continued with the assault, joined by the still limping Sprug, who got swiftly backhanded across the face.

The normally spry warlock slammed into the outer wall of the castle. As he made contact with the stone, though, Boyle quickly jumped in to take his place and help Amber out, who was still holding her own against the furious female demon.

The old wizard swiftly had his hylum knocked away by a hard strike from Shalya that hit near his hands. Just as quickly, however, as the staff of Boyle fell to the paved dirt, Fayth responded by swinging a blunt tipped hammer to knock those scaled hands free of that carved stone. And in that same motion, as Amber pulled back her next swing, Shalya drove her foot deep into the gut of Fayth, dropping the witch to the dirt and leaving the witch gasping for air.

The demon's stone blade stabbed into the ground next to her, but she had to turn immediately back towards Amber as she was getting slashed at once more. In response, with nothing else to do, Shalya reached out and grabbed onto the arm of Amber with both of her hands to stop the swing.

Boyle tried to capitalize on the situation as he reached over to grab her oversized sword out of the dirt, but got kicked in the mouth as Shalya blindly threw her leg backwards. The wizard dropped down onto his ass as Jade got back to her feet and charged the demon, holding her blade slanted above her shoulder with both hands, prepared to hack this menace to pieces.

As the willborn began her initial swing, though, Shalya simply stuck a leg out and snuck her foot in between the witch's arms – navigating around the blade while still holding Amber at bay – and allowing Jade's chin to run right into the bottom of her boot!

The young witch found herself on in the dirt again, with her sword slipping away from her grasp. As she dropped, the already injured Chanlo promptly ran in, hopping over her. Shalya immediately spotted his injury, though, and swung Amber right into his torn open shoulder, knocking him down.

Amber bounced off of him and landed right on her feet, turning back to swing again... but was again grabbed by the arm, keeping her sword at bay. By then Vayence could be seen running towards them with her hatchets held out to each side. As she approached, she hopped into the air, raising the two steel-lined clubs and swinging down at the back of the demon in mid-flip. Shalya, however, simply shifted Amber's arm, using her blade to block the strike.

Chanlo hopped back to his feet as Vayence hit the ground in a roll, preparing her next attack, and Amber pushed down against the demon with all of her might, using both hands to try and break her grasp. Shalya, though – as she saw Chanlo preparing a burst of energy – released half of her grasp on Amber and aimed her left palm towards the warlock for only a split second. But it was within that second when she shot a lightning-fast blast of flame at his chest before quickly turning her attention back to Amber, pushing her arms back up.

Chanlo's energy was still gathering in his arms, not yet enough to disperse in an act of defense. Instead, he managed to gather it all up into his already injured shoulder, spinning himself around to face the tumbling flame and sparing his life by sacrificing his limb.

His right shoulder became ripped open in a burst of fire, but the blast traveled no further.

The demon hardly noticed, though, as she continued fighting for possession of the sword.

Vayence dragged Chanlo to safety before charging back towards the struggle, and the crafty witch got the demon's attention by throwing one of her hatchets right at it. As the large female demon swung her body around to avoid it, Vayence swung that second hatchet up at the demon's arm to slice it off. After a nervous adjustment on the part of Shalya, however, the steel swung wide and her grip on Amber was broken instead by the up-swinging wood of the handheld axe. So in the process of trying to cut her arm off, Shalya saved her flesh as Vayence wound up breaking the bone in half!

The demon spun around, releasing her grip and groaning as she looked down at her left arm – snapped at the elbow and hanging limp.

Vayence shot her a quick glance of dissatisfaction, "Could've been worse, huh?"

* * *

While all this was happening outside, Orleans had other things in mind as he raced down random hallways inside the castle. He took various turns, as if he knew exactly where he was going, and had finally gotten the chance to go after it. Much of the castle's interior seemed to be damaged, entire sections ripped out, wall after wall as far as he could see, torn down. Then the hallway would continue seemingly untouched as he made his way further into the unknown. That hallway led the wizard to another untouched hallway, and he could feel that he was almost there. After entering a large room, he found Limonya to already be there, waiting for him.

"Come, quickly," she spoke hurriedly, "You already took too much time. The master will not be blind to us for long. We must move with purpose."

Orleans nodded, following her out of the room and through a few more hallways, descending ever deeper into the castle's depths.

The two of them eventually reached a circular flight of stairs that they followed down for what seemed to be a mile.

"I suppose this would be a good place to hide something." Orleans said, trying to break the silence and lighten the mood. "Because who would ever want to go down so many frening stairs?"

Limonya did not laugh. " _We_ are going down all these frening stairs." She said in all seriousness. "The temptation of such great power cannot be stopped by a mere staircase."

"Yes, but... I was only joking, never mind," Orleans replied awkwardly.

"And this is no time for jokes, waken," she let him see her how serious she was. "This ground is a focal point for the energy generated by your so-called _Terra_. And the deeper we go, the more focused that energy becomes. The bottom of this cavern will enhance our internal energy, making our signature much easier to find. And as soon as the master feels that someone is this deep inside the castle... he _will_ come for us."

"Well, that is nice to know," Orleans had to admit. "And who exactly is this _master_ you speak of?"

She shook her head, "Let us hope there is no need to meet him."

With that, they finally reached the bottom of the stairs and entered into a long dimly lit hallway with a single door at its end.

* * *

Back outside, with the skies still drizzling, Evette sat healing the wound on Marigny's back. She had already healed Tegan with the help of Relayna, and the young witch was now helping the twins fight Shagtou.

Relayna was now back at Evette's side, ready to force the healing potions into the warwalker's veins as soon as Evette finished applying them. "You like her, don't you?" the young witch asked her former lover, referring to Tegan.

Evette tried to hold back her smile, but Relayna could sense the attraction. "It's alright," she told Evette. "To be honest... I'm happy for you." The young witch then placed her energy charged left hand on Marigny's shoulder, allowing the heat to activate the potion as she admitted to her once lover, "You deserve something better... than me."

Vhadaokod had escaped Ogar and Harkiss as they collided into each other, and the demon appeared behind Evette, her gaze with Relayna shattered as two skeletal hands lifted her up by her head.

"I must apologize for the timing, but I cannot allow you to bring _him_ back into this fight," Vhadaokod hissed into her ear as Relayna remained at Marigny's side, knowing how close he was to revival.

That's when a very familiar voice growled out from behind Evette, "Oh, it's already too late for that," and a fist came around her head to land stiff on Vhadaokod's chin!

Evette dropped from the demon's grasp, falling straight into the waiting arms of Relayna. Marigny jumped over them to punch the draker in the face again, following it up with a nonstop assault of more and more punches. Vhadaokod still had his sword gripped in his right hand, but Marigny would not allow him to even raise his arm up, mixing in a kick every now and again to knock it back down every time he tried.

Behind him, Tegan helped the twins to overwhelm Shagtou. Each tried their best to finish him off, but to no avail. While off to their side, after accidentally helping Palmisano slash Maelstrom across the arm, Ogar and Harkiss were helping each other back up, as usual.

Back on the other side of the castle doors, Vayence was beginning to lose her edge over Shalya. Since breaking her arm the demon had become relentless. It had already taken down Amber with a desperate punch that left the witch gasping for air. Jade tried to help next, but got blasted down by a well timed flare of flame to her leg. As Jade rolled away, though, Vayence took advantage of her spacing and used the slight distraction to launch a swift energy blast at the demon's back.

Feeling the heat rising behind her, Shalya spun around and actually caught the ball of terra energy with her bare hand, right out of the air. She held it firm as its tail collapsed back into itself, shocked that the fragile particles inside of it were not combusting, and then promptly threw it back at the witch.

The rogue terra blast tumbled back towards Vayence in slow motion, with the witch seemingly frozen in place until Boyle shoved her out the way and managed to dodge it, himself. But the explosion released upon impact hit right behind him, flipping the old wizard along the dirt.

Palmisano, however, had no troubles at all with the other half of the Terrible Two. He was having his way with the feminine demon Maelstrom and ordered Tamara and Slanded to go and help the others. As they left his side, he hit the demon with a boot to its chest and followed it up with a blast of terra sent straight at its head.

With nothing more for Maelstrom to do, no room to dodge it, he seemed ready to meet his fate willingly... until he opened his mouth up wide and swallowed whole the orb of energy that was tumbling towards him.

His throat grew large – swelling like a balloon being blown up – leaving Palmisano shocked as he'd never seen such ability before.

As the wizard's mouth nearly dropped open, Maelstrom groaned as he leaned forward and did exactly that: reopening his mouth and throwing the energy back up in a wave, sending it hurling towards Palmisano.

The wizard kept his nerves, ducked under it and ran beneath it – bent over until he reached the demon – as he popped up with great force, upper-cutting him right beneath the jaw!

The blast of energy shot straight up into the wet sky as it dissipated into the air, Maelstrom hitting the ground flat on his back.

The momentum of the battle was beginning to swing outside, but inside the castle things were just getting started.

* * *

Orleans had followed Limonya into the lone room at the end of the hallway where he found what they were looking for inside of a large case mounted in the center of that room: a glowing red amulet. The eyes of the waken expanded as he first laid fingers upon it, cold to the touch. Then those eyes started darting back and forth in paranoia as the two of them now raced up the stairs, with the glow of the amulet dissipating the closer they got to the surface.

"So... now that you have this, what is it you will do?" Limonya asked the wizard.

"You know, I never did think that far ahead," Orleans admitted, even to himself. "I suppose I'll just do what anyone would with such a power."

"And what exactly would that be?"

"Well... change the frening world, of course," the waken replied with a chuckle as they finally reached the top of the stairs.

Limonya only shrugged her shoulders as she led the way up a sloped hallway, taking them back to ground level, and then bringing them up another level to an exit near the rear of the castle.

The wizard and the demon entered into a large circular room with several doors all around them, but standing across from them, blocking their exit, was the monstrous figure of an ancient demon – no doubt the master Limonya had been trying to avoid.

* * *

The tide of the battle outside was clearly beginning to sway to the favor of the witches. The only demon still fighting back was the only female among them, and the only one with a broken arm. She seemed to knock Boyle unconscious as that one good arm swung around to knock him across the side of his head.

Elisa was swinging as the wizard fell, but the demon blasted her in the hands with a burst of fire, taking the witch out of the action. Tamara stepped up next, having her terra-crafted dagger dissipated before getting her face rammed into the outer wall of the castle. Vayence then came charging to help, hatchet in hand.

Shalya's back was turned as Tamara crumpled to the ground – so Vayence expected a clean shot as she readied her attack. But, in an instant, Shalya spun around and grabbed the blade with her bare hand, smiling as it sliced into her palm. Vayence did not relent, however, pouring her own terra into the steel and cutting that hand in half!

The lone female demon staggered back from the swing that broke through, her half-hand instantly cauterized while her other arm hung limp. Off to the side Shagtou was fighting to get away from Tegan, eventually ducking a long swing of her axe and having her almost chop the heads off of Ogar and Harkiss. The both of them fell down to their ass to avoid it, giving Shagtou his moment to point his palm towards the distracted Tegan to let loose a sudden inferno as he spread out his wings to fly away.

The tumbling blaze seemed unavoidable. So instead of panicking, Tegan simply slipped her eyes closed and waited to be reunited with her sister. But just as she did, instead of flame exploding onto her and consuming her, she felt hands pushing her away.

It was the young Slanded, who had blamed himself for the death of her sister the entire time, and he shoved her towards safety. It happened so fast, the move so sudden, but by allowing those flames to explode against his back instead of hers, he had at last atoned for his previous cowardice.

As the moments passed, Tegan was allowed to crawl over towards the still burning warlock, eyes wide with shock at the sacrifice he'd just made. While off beside her, Vhadaokod tossed Relayna and Evette aside to kick Marigny straight in between his legs, laughing demonically as Shagtou swooped in from above to lift him away.

"This is farewell, witches!" Vhadaokod yelled out. "You may have gotten the best of us this time, but this war is only at its start! You can have the damn castle! But you cannot have this Earth! It will be ours!"

Shalya saw them and did not approve. "What in tartarus are you two doing?!" She screamed, waving her half-hand in the air. "We do not run away! Who in fury ever taught you to run away?!"

Maelstrom had already turned to retreat from Palmisano, and she saw him chasing after them. "Wait! Don't leave me! Please... take me with you!" Maelstrom hissed out loud as he jumped up and down, waving his arms back and forth at the two demons above.

"You," Shalya growled furiously, "How dare you pass your cowardice on to others! That is why our two best students are running away, because so are you! Well, no more!!!"

She threw out her good arm, facing what palm she had left at her partner and launching a large stream of swirling energy wrapped in flames. It extended across the battlefield with incredible speed and hit Maelstrom straight in his back, engulfing him in fire.

Maelstrom screeched and yelped as the flames swallowed him up and melted his flesh, dropping to his knees as his body began to slowly fall apart, screams morphing into muffled gurgles as he dissolved into the dirt.

Shalya watched him as he burned, and that is when Boyle decided to make his move. Still on the ground from being knocked out, he was surprised he was allowed to even wake up at all. Because he did, his hand lifted without a second thought about it, straining to properly aim the blast of energy from his seated position, and to his complete surprise her momentary lapse in anger towards her partner had blinded her completely to his attack.

His orb of terra clipped the right calf of Shalya and dropped her to one knee, just as Jade hopped in to kick her other leg out from under her, stabbing her sword into her right shoulder as she fell, taking away her only arm left and leaving her seemingly defenseless.

Boyle then got up to his feet to approach her.

"Are you sure that you wish to remain here?" he asked her in all honesty.

Shalya spat at him as she pulled herself up, embers sparking with her words as she made it up to one knee. " _I_ am no coward!"

To that, Boyle nodded politely as he pointed his index finger right at her head. "A commendable belief," he gestured, shooting a thin beam of energy that burned a small hole straight through her skull. "If only it meant something besides your own death."

As blood trickled down her face, along each side of her nose and into her wide open mouth, her eyes rolled back into her head and she dropped face first onto the cold, wet dirt of the paved ground.

Everyone stood silent for a while, gathering up the wounded, but a loud rumble coming from the castle got all of their attention. All the witches turned towards it.

"What was that?" Jade asked.

"Well, it definitely wasn't any thunder," Palmisano commented.

Boyle stepped out in front of everyone. "Whatever it was," he got everyone's attention, "We should hurry and find out. Lord Orleans may need our help."

"Wait up! He went in there? Alone?" Marigny asked as if in shock.

Boyle nodded, picking his staff from the ground.

"That arrogant frening fool!" Marigny exclaimed as he ran in through the busted open doors, the other witches following close behind him.

* * *

Orleans froze where he stood upon seeing this 'master' that Limonya spoke of. He knew upon seeing it that it was a demon of ancient times, from before even he was alive. He had heard stories of the original demons, but had never seen one with his own eyes. It had once been rumored that dragons themselves were some sort of offshoot to that ancient demon race, which would have definitely explained its sheer enormity.

It rose up ten times the size of any other demon, its head almost reaching the tall ceiling of the wide room they stood within. Its body seemed as thick as five tree trunks, with arms like lone trees of their own. It had a tail as long as a dragon's and large wings that hung behind it. Its head looked like that of a wolf, only with scales and spotty red hairs, and two twisted horns that hung from its forehead. Its legs were short, though, hardly even seen beneath the massive upper body as it sat upon the floor.

"What is it you believe yourself to be doing?!" the timeworn demon bellowed in a rough voice, almost as if it was making words from various grunts and groans. "Did you truly believe that you would escape with that so easily?"

"I was sure as fury hoping so," Orleans admitted under his breath.

The big ears of the archaic beast pointed up as it stomped on the ground, now showing itself to actually be much taller as it stretched out to break its horns through the ceiling above. "Silence, you! I will deal with you soon enough, wizard!" The demon moaned, turning its attention towards Limonya.

"But you... how dare you work alongside their kind to impede our conquest of this Earth?!" Anger was twisting its scaled face.

As she stepped up to face the mighty demon, so did Limonya silently slip the amulet that they took from the depths of the castle into the pocket of Orleans. As she did, a look of confusion wrapping around the face of the old wizard, he began to experience a tingling sensation that ran through his veins. It was almost like some dormant part of his mind sparked to life. Suddenly he became overwhelmed by a growing strength inside of himself that never existed before – feeling it as it surged through his muscles, pumping his veins with a burning life-force, and ultimately distracted him for just a moment.

"No one betrays me!" the demon growled loudly as it swung its tail around.

It moved so fast it was hardly seen. And before Orleans could place it, it smacked Limonya across the room, snapping her neck around and knocking her hard against the nearest wall!

She bounced off of it and dropped lifeless to the floor. Orleans couldn't even tell if she was still alive.

"Now," the age-old demon groaned, turning its attention towards the tiny creature beside it, "You were saying something, wizard?"

Orleans couldn't help but stare at the limp body of Limonya. "Who would do such a thing to their own kind?" he asked as a newfound confidence swirled within him.

The demon seemed to chuckle. "Is that not the exact thing you have been doing, sacrificing your own for one ultimate goal? Is allowing your own kind to die not the same as killing them yourself?"

Orleans looked up at the demon's face, his eyes slanted with aggression. "You know nothing about me. So please, do not make comparisons between us." He spoke in a serious manner.

"Oh, I know you better than you think. I have watched you all this time – the legendary wizard warrior, Orleans," It spoke condescendingly, tone as cold as all of winter. "With his mind too preoccupied to focus on the battle at hand, this legend allowed countless numbers of his own fighters to be slaughtered by demon hands. I did not understand it at first, wondering what could possibly be so distracting to such a great warrior. But it was not until you arrived here in this castle, and I sensed you down below, that I realized you were not as honest and loyal as all your stories pretend you to be. Just as all those petty excuses for songs they wrote about you were lies," the demon snickered. "That's when I came to realize that you came here for the exact same reasons as I. You began your fight here for the same reason that we did. And now I need you to return that reason... back to me."

Orleans lowered his gaze, fists clenching as his hood dropped over his head. His eyes lit with flame beneath the shadow of his cloak, like the birthing of two stars within his skull. "So you seem to have me at a disadvantage," he admitted behind grinding teeth as he unclenched his fists. "It seems to be I who knows nothing of you."

The demon's laughter rumbled. "Well, I am your death, if you insist on such knowledge. Your speech would reduce my name to Don Chota, but I..."

"Well, you know, Don – can I call you Don? – I really don't care!!! YAAAHGHGH!!!!!" Orleans roared as he unleashed a humongous blast of burning hot energy from both of his outstretched palms, throwing back his hood as the outburst engulfed the entire room in a bright red explosion of light, ripping it apart as it spread out wide!

Walls began to topple over and so did the demon giant, Don Chota. He was caught completely off guard by the blast and had the whole right side of his upper body all but burned away, and as he fell back onto the floor, he broke right through it – burned flesh crashing through chiseled stone. This caused the rest of the room's floor to fall out along with it in a domino effect.

So with the floor falling from beneath his feet Orleans ran over to Limonya and grabbed hold of her as they all fell down to the level below.

Large chunks of stone and other debris were falling all around them as they dropped. Orleans, though, had spun himself around during the fall to land on his back, and Limonya landed right on top of him. His next movement rolled him over to cover her up as the rest of the room fell down atop them, leaving them both buried in rubble.

After all the noise and rumbling stopped, Orleans began to dig himself and the still limp Limonya out of the mess they were in. Orleans wasn't sure if she was even alive, but needed only a few minutes time to save her, regardless. First he needed to get her safely out of that rubble.

Finally his hand broke out the top of it and he pulled himself out, Limonya held tightly in his other arm. He then laid her down atop the mass of shattered stone, not seeing any sign of the ancient demon anywhere, and he placed his hands upon her chest as he began to pump his own energy into her body. It was a technique that not many witches knew of, one not passed down through the ages – one called the Rolak-Zong.

If there remained any bit of life left within her, his internal energy would be able to awaken and sustain it. But if she was too far gone, this technique would simply drain him of his power until none remained, dragging him to the afterlife along with her.

The effects could kill him. He understood that... but proceeded, nonetheless.

As Orleans began, with his attention completely on Limonya, a bloody and battered Don Chota pulled himself up out of the rubble with the one arm he had left. The demon wobbled back and forth as it stumbled through the broken room towards Orleans. One wing still hung on its back, the other mostly burned away along with one of his arms and half of his chest. His tail, however, was still intact, probably the only reason he still stood upright.

Orleans had not yet finished healing Limonya when he was suddenly knocked away from her. He flew halfway across the room and broke through a large piece of the fallen floor left propped against a wall.

Despite this, the wizard quickly pulled himself up to see Don Chota standing atop the rubble across from him. The next thing he saw was the demon's tail whipping towards his face from the left side. His only reaction was to duck down, and the tail swung right over his head, barely missing him.

In response, the demon growled and shot a blast of flame out of its mouth. Orleans saw it and shot his own burst of energy at it. His blue ball of terra seemed much smaller than the spinning flames, but it was enough to penetrate into them and cause them to explode before they reached him.

"Damn wizard!" Don Chota roared.

Thrown back by the explosion he'd caused, Orleans slammed against the wall. As he slid down, landing back on his feet, he saw the demon's tail coming back at his face.

This time, instead of avoiding it, he turned towards it. Manipulating the surrounding air, he pulled his sword from its sheath and into his already swinging hand to chop the end of that tail clean off!

That remaining tail sprayed out blood as it fell limp to the floor, and Orleans promptly put his weapon away as he picked up a large chunk of stone and dropped it on top of the remaining tail to make sure it wouldn't go anywhere else. By that point Don Chota screeched out in pain.

Orleans then began to run up the giant demon's tail, using it as a bridge over the rubble to reach the demon's face. Don Chota tried to shoot another blast of flame from his mouth as Orleans leapt at his head, but all that sprayed from its mouth was blood as the blade of Orleans extended deep into its throat!

The ancient demon was left to gurgle out its last few breaths as it choked on its own blood, Orleans continually digging his sword ever deeper into its neck. As the life at last left those wide eyes, that demon dropped down face first into the rubble with a big boom that sent dust and debris flying up into the surrounding air. And this time, the floor held.

Through the scattering dust Orleans leaped off the tumbling mass of demon to start running back to Limonya as Don Chota hit the floor behind him. And as the dust and debris filled the room, he was already right back at her side, pumping his own energy into her in the hopes of bringing her back to life.

* * *

Both Marigny and Boyle had a lock on the power signature of Orleans and could sense it growing weaker by the second as they raced towards it.

"We have to move faster! Something is wrong!" Boyle shouted as the two of them ran out ahead of everyone, charging through the broken hallways of the castle.

"I know! I can feel it, too!" Marigny yelled back over to him, running right behind Boyle. "His energy is..." His voice was cut short as he tripped and fell flat on his face!

Boyle glanced back and saw him waving him forward as the others helped him up, so the wizard ran out ahead of everyone, making a few turns and leaving them behind. He finally made one final turn and found himself in a room filled with rubble.

The old wizard looked up to see that the ceiling of that room had collapsed down, figuring that had to be the loud rumble they'd heard coming from outside. He began to crawl over the broken stone with an urgent caution, becoming worried that this may be why the energy signature of Orleans was getting weaker. But as he made his way around the gigantic body of an already mutilated demon, peering carefully around it, he saw something he never expected to see in all of his lifetime.

* * *

Orleans knelt beside Limonya, her entire body beginning to glow with the energy he pumped into her. He was becoming short of breath as he felt her inhale sharply, starting to breathe on her own. He then sat back on his legs, clearly exhausted as he huffed, "Thank the fates, it's finally over."

Boyle looked shocked as he stood in silence ten feet behind Orleans, not really understanding what he was seeing. "Lord?" His voice was unsure and awkward.

And the eyes of Orleans grew wide at the sound of that voice, knowing exactly who stood behind him.

He then closed those eyes briefly as he seemed to fight back tears, knowing that no one could be allowed to know of what he'd done.

His eyes opened back up as he turned around to slowly set his sight on Boyle, cautiously standing up to his feet. He saw the fingers of his old friend trembling along the tips of his staff, unsure of what he should do.

"What is this? What... what are you doing?" he asked his respected leader, his voice cracking with nervousness.

Orleans shook his head as he looked at the old wizard. "Oh, Boyle... I am so sorry." He told him in all of his honesty.

"Orleans, what in fury is going on?" Boyle asked somewhat desperately as the demon woman began to get up to her feet behind his leader.

"I am sorry that you had to see this, old friend. I truly never wanted it to end this way." The face of Orleans was stripped free of any expression at all.

"Orleans, no!" Boyle shouted out as he pointed his staff in the same time that it took Orleans to raise up his arm.

The blast shot from the hand of Orleans with unflinching precision, ripping a hole through Boyle's chest before his staff was even completely charged. The energy exploded within him, shattering both of their hearts, and his friend of many years dropped dramatically down into the rubble, eyes open wide and stained with shock.

The eyelids Orleans closed shut again, maybe fighting back more tears or regretting what he'd done, but a moment later he opened them back up and turned towards the demon Limonya.

"What happened?" she asked him. "I thought... I was..."

"You were very near death, yes... but there is no time to explain," Orleans cut her off as he heard the footsteps of the other witches growing louder as they got closer to the room. He placed the amulet into her hand and closed her fingers around it. "I cannot be found with this," he told her. "You have to take it and get out of here fast, because I am going to have to blame this on you." He pointed down at Boyle.

Limonya's eyes grew wide as she looked from the dead wizard back to Orleans. "Did you...?"

Orleans put his finger to her lips to stop her from speaking. "Just get out of here," he told her. "I will find you again... somehow. Now go!"

Limonya stared into his eyes for a short moment before turning and running away through the rubble. A moment after that, Orleans yelled as loud as he could, "Damn it, Boyle!" then shot an energy blast into the wall as he took his friend's side.

Limonya hadn't yet made it out of the room when the witches entered, but Orleans doubted they could see her. He heard them yelling out as they climbed through the shattered room and over the carcass of the dead demon, and he knew he had to sell it just a bit more to draw their attention away from where Limonya actually was.

"You demon whore!" he yelled out desperately as he shot three angry blasts of terra in the opposite direction of Limonya, blowing open another door across from the door she was actually sneaking out of.

A few of the witches arrived before the others – Shaydince, Dogru, Palmisano and Marigny. They could see his weakness as he tried to stand.

"Stay down," Marigny ordered him. "We'll get her. I knew you should have let me take her in the first place." He groaned as he ran through the door Orleans had blown open.

Dogru and Shaydince were right behind him, followed as well by Palmisano. The other witches were next into the room, seeing how badly he was injured, and seeing the body of Boyle torn open in the rubble next to him. Some of them raced off after the others immediately, wanting to catch whoever had done this, while others remained at the side of their leader.

Orleans was knelt over his old friend, looking down at him with eyes full of genuine sorrow.

"Should we follow them?" Tegan asked.

"No," Orleans said simply, his face again free of any expression. "That is enough effort for one demon." He seemed to pause between each sentence he spoke. "This battle is over... We have done our job... The time has now come to collect our dead... They all deserve to safely leave our Terra, the Earth they gave their lives to protect, in safety and peace." His eyes never left the face of Boyle until he closed them tight.

* * *

After a few hours of searching through the remnants of their assault, the witches all wound up right where they'd started – gathered at the castle gates. Everyone looked beaten and bloodied, tired and ready to go home. Many had died, but twenty-two still stood tall, surviving to take Coastal Castle, against all the odds.

The young Slanded had survived his sacrifice, but was left permanently burned. Tegan stood beside him to help him stand, and the look on her face showed much more than just gratitude. After such a selfless act of her behalf, her heart was being drawn directly to his.

Next to them stood Relayna, who couldn't help but smile at Evette, "Looks like it's still me and you, huh?"

At that, Evette had to sigh as she put her arm around Relayna and pulled her close, "Exactly the way fate intended it, right?"

"Yup!" As Relayna nodded happily, Shaydince grimaced behind her.

She was being held up by the seemingly unscathed Dogru, her ribs burning with each breath she took. Fayth had been bruised up, as well, but none of the blood that stained her clothes was her own. Beside her, Chanlo and Chargon stood side by side.

Chargon's left eye was gone, and three deep slashes still lined his face, while Chanlo's right arm was left a burned husk hanging limp at his side. But both of them were still strong enough to stand.

Ogar and Harkiss were behind them. Despite being the clumsiest among them, ironically, they seemed to be the least injured. Elisa was beside them, her hands badly blistered, with Sprug next to her, his entire face one giant bruise and his left leg ripped open, still bloody.

The twins, Hani and Yani, sat behind him, each of them helping the other to tend to their various cuts and bruises. Behind those two stood Tamara, nodding as Vayence explained all that had happened after she'd been knocked out of the fight. And behind them all were the two newest recruits, Jade and Amber.

Jade insisted on standing under her own power, despite Amber's constant attempts to help her. Jade would push her away every time Marigny glanced back at them. "You do know that he's looking at me, right?" Amber joked.

Jade laughed it away as he looked back once more, "Oh, don't be a fool. He's a warwalker. That draker wants us both."

Amber smirked at the thought of it, "Doesn't he frening wish."

Marigny was up front, standing next to Palmisano as he began to gather everyone's attention. Orleans had finally gathered himself before standing in front of his survivors. They were all anxious to hear what he had to say.

"All of you make me... so proud," he proclaimed, clearly fighting back tears. "We all made sacrifices to come here, left loved one's behind, our former lives. And once here some of us had to sacrifice a bit more than that – our pride, our friends, and even our very souls. But through it all, never was our course ever questioned. When our path became threatened, never did we once stray from our ultimate goal. Thus... here we stand – victorious – having conquered nearly impossible odds." He pulled at his blood stained beard nervously as he continued. "But we were never meant to come here. That, I must admit. Fate did not put us together."

As everyone began mumbling their questions, he elaborated, "Instead, it was I who assembled this group. Each name, every face, all the turmoil that I felt would come of it... it was all my doing. And now... now most of those faces are stacked up in that pile over there, having sacrificed their lives for nothing more than my own frening selfishness."

More questions began to be mumbled, and he explained further before they got too loud, "I know what you are all thinking, but let me assure you that this was something I had to do, something _I_ had to finish. So I made damn frening sure that I was sent here, into the heart of this attack. But I can see now that it was the wrong thing to do, and never should I have gotten any of you involved. This is my fight, and it always has been. And because of that, I refuse to ask any of you to follow me any longer."

The mumbling ceased, but still he went on, "I made a mistake a very long time ago, and now is my only chance to atone for it. You all have nothing to do with that. I already have knowledge of what the demons are planning, where they will attack, and by the fury of my bare frening hands I will not allow them the victory they seek. So, with that said, I will not be returning to Elder Castle with the rest of you. Instead, with the fates at my side, I shall singlehandedly bring the entire Demon Empire to its knees. It is _my_ destiny to do this, not yours. It is my duty to set right the course of history, to turn it away from this tortuous path that I helped forge so long ago."

He lowered his head for a moment before raising it back up, along with his voice. "I guess what I'm saying is... no differently than I have done, so have the leaders you follow led you astray."

Everyone seemed confused, so he just came out with it, and with great ferocity, "To be more direct... the Elders you know are not the saviors they proclaim themselves to be! They have no right to stand atop our race, hiding within their castle while we defend our Terra at their expense! They are cowards and murderers, no better than I. But as long as I can see it and understand that what I helped to accomplish millennia ago was wrong, I will always be different from them... _better than them_! While they wallow in their own prideful gluttony, I will always find strength within my greatest weakness!"

No one knew anything of what he was talking about, but they all listened intently. "No longer will I betray my race by following their orders, bending to their every tyrannical whim! From now on, this moment forward, I shall fight for the future, and for this Earth, our Terra! But never again will I fight for them!"

His index finger was pointed north, trembling with menace. "The demons may seem to be the ruin of all the lands, but it is the Elders who are the ruin of all existence! They have raped this world of life before, proclaiming it to be an attempt to purge it of evil, and they will continue to do so until they are all that is left of it. What they fail to realize, however, is the monster they are creating. A plague has swept across this land for centuries now, millennia even, and it has nothing at all to do with any demon. This plague I speak of is none other than us – Witchkind itself."

"The demons have risen for a reason, and it is not as simple as conquering the world," he explained in depth. "They have instead come to cleanse it, an act that will become all too common if we do not fix what our Elders have broken. If we do not change who we are – destroy the true monsters that have claimed all of Terra for their own – then we will have failed to defend it. When once we shared this Earth with all other species, now we seek to rid it of everyone but ourselves. This is why the demons have returned, because even from the realm of death they were able to see how weak we'd become. They _will_ fix this Earth. But the future they create will have no place for the monsters that we have become. Thus they will not stop until our entire race and all others have been wiped from existence, just as we did to them all that time ago. And that is why I will stop them, only to give me the space I need to tear down the pedestal I helped build for the Elders, and atone for all of my mistakes by bringing peace back to Terra... and not the kind of peace where we enslave an entire race of apes, but true peace – a peace that gives every species a rightful place to call their own."

His head was held high as he kept going, much weight having been lifted from his shoulders. "So, for now, I must leave you all with that warning: fight not for anyone but yourself. And take care of each other. There is nothing left for the demons here, so you should remain safe from them within this castle if you so wish to keep it. But before I go, I must thank all of you for fighting as bravely as you did. This victory would not have been possible without your passions. And please give our dead the flame they will need to pass through the fields... they deserve it."

"And why can't we do that together?" Marigny blurted out, a look of determination painted across his face. That glare of his soon turned straight towards Palmisano, who had to close his eyes to fight back tears.

The young wizard had wanted nothing more than to return to the home that he and Corrine were building for themselves. Behind his closed eyelids he saw her face, but it became marred with a vision of blood. He knew that stopping now wouldn't solve anything. The demons would continue across the land and eventually find her village. She would be defenseless. So he had to keep fighting. He had no doubt in that. And as he opened up his eyes again, the bloody vision of his love fading away into the fading light of dusk, he gave Marigny the nod of approval he so desperately needed.

Marigny's confident glare never faded as he turned back to look at Orleans, "What I'm saying is... why do _we_ have to stop here?" All the other witches began looking around at each other as he went on, "If we wish to return to our loved ones and find them alive, we must not allow the demon plague to spread beyond The Birthplace. And if our Elders have indeed betrayed us... if they are the ones to blame for this war... when the demons are free of our path, we shall rise up and claim _for ourselves_ the power that they have denied us since birth! This is our world, our Terra and if we wish to set things right... there must be no pinnacle of any frening pedestal left for them to stand upon!"

As the witches around him suddenly burst into cheers, Marigny was filled with a grand sense of pride. But as he looked over at Palmisano, who was standing right next to him, that pride quickly faded. He could see the pain in the young wizard's eyes, and he began to feel it within himself.

Marigny's eyes sulked downwards, and as they did Palmisano slapped him on the chest, beginning to smile, "I knew there had to be a heart somewhere underneath all that tough-warlock apeshit."

In response, Marigny elbowed him in the gut, putting a bit of power behind it. As Palmisano bent down, laughing painfully, the young warlock let him know with a grunted whisper, "You... tell... no one!"

He then looked over at Orleans, whose smile was full of pride. "I just have one question left," Marigny began to ask, causing Orleans to flash back to the moment he killed his dear friend, Boyle. He quickly snapped out of it, though, and heard the fiery warlock ask, "What's the frening plan?"

Orleans forced that smile back onto his face, "Well... first, we must follow the island chain across the Half Sea to Rock Somoa Toma, where the demons are preparing ships to reach the frozen lands. Eventually we'll make it to The Great Rift where Claiborne has apparently taken control of The Fire Lands. With those volcanoes in his power, he could easily lay waste to this entire land. But before we do that, we must travel into Skullking territory, where, hopefully, we'll be able to find a bit of help."

As the Composer of War explained to everyone how he planned on bringing down the entire Demon Empire singlehandedly, this section of their journey draws to a close. The bloodshed was over for the time being, but the war far from finished. It was being waged all across the land as they lit their funeral pyre and chanted their dead through the Elysian Fields and into the realm of death, assuring them a safe passage.

The surviving twenty-two Protectors of Terra knew that it would be a long and harsh journey ahead. But before any more mayhem ensued, as Palmisano kneeled down to pick up the two pieces of the broken staff that he'd lost in the initial onslaught – the staff given to him by his father – everyone was simply thankful to be alive. The path before them, however, was unknown and filled with many dangers... dangers that each one of them could now proudly face without hesitation.

# \---END---

About the Author

So, you've reached the end, or maybe you just skipped ahead to this part for some reason. Either way, I must thank you. Because you haven't lit your e-reader on fire yet, I invite you to please follow me on this journey with no fear of suicidal thoughts.

### R.M. Plaiscia was born on June 8th, 1983, and raised in St. Bernard, Louisiana, just a footstep outside of New Orleans. After dropping out of Chalmette High School to get his G.E.D in 2001, he made it to college a year before all his friends.

### In 2002, R.M. Plaiscia helped form the Backyard Wrestling Federation EPW (Extreme Psychopathic Wrestling/EPW504 on YouTube), serving as Head Booker and Extreme Champion until folding in 2004. In late 2005, after Hurricane Katrina devastated his hometown, flooding his own home with upwards of 15 feet of water, R.M. Plaiscia was one of the few to return home to live out his days in a FEMA trailer.

### Spending the next few years rebuilding his home while finishing his schooling at Nunez Community College, R.M. Plaiscia began work on his Shroud of Ages Saga.

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R.M. Plaiscia can be found on...

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/RMP31

Instagram - @rm_plaiscia

Other Works by R.M. Plaiscia

(The Hurricane Journals – Volume I)

Vampire Storm

When two storms converge upon a mighty river's crescent – one of swirling wind and rising water, the other of regenerating flesh and self-binding bones – only one shall hold the ability to shift the fates of all the future forever more. As a swamp fills with water, three witches shall begin their silent battle to control that power. But not all of them will be able to escape this Vampire Storm with their lives.

(The Hurricane Journals – Volume II)

When War Walks

With the brood of Saint Claude left shattered by a terrible flood, the survivors must somehow rise up against their mightiest of adversaries – none other than themselves. Consisting of an immersive battle, an overthrow of power, diabolical deception, visions of conquests, intense rushes of emotion. This is the story of Witchkind's first supernatural conflict upon their newly claimed river's crescent, and the fallout thereafter.

(The Hurricane Journals – Volume III)

Upon a River's Crescent

Death is where it all ends, the very definition of finality, or at least it's supposed to be. It's quite logical to believe that when a body dies, so dies everything inside of it – every breath, every thought, every single emotion ever felt. But there is a legend that tells quite a different story.

(The Hurricane Journals – Volume IV)

If Fate Fractures

After the three Elysian Stones go missing, the vampire is left to search for the true attacker while yet another struggle for power unfolds within the brood of Saint Claude. A Witch Game is assembled for the first time in several millennia, and Jade unveils one final scheme to try and pull the vampire to her side. Her celestial struggle will either bring her spell into being, or it will kill her.

(Before The River's Crescent - 1)

When Peace Was Torn Asunder

Before the survivors of Witchkind found new life upon a river's crescent, secret settlements were spread all across the globe, all hidden from the still evolving Human Race. One of those settlements was built atop a mountain's peak, and was known as Peace. This is the story of when that peak was first discovered by Mankind... the day Peace was torn asunder.

(Before The River's Crescent - 2)

Why Fate Was Fought

Forging a path against the grain of fate, the true intentions of three mysterious witches are revealed. After first being introduced upon a mighty river's crescent, they were last seen on the day that Peace was torn asunder. Now they fight against the mistakes that were made, the mistakes left burned eternally within the stones of time. These are the memories of Jane, Chelsia, and Heather. This is why fate was fought.

(Book 1 of The Demon Conquests)

From The Flames of Extinction

(YOU ARE HERE)

Time Took The Most

Escaping a hurricane-ravaged community on the cusp of being rebuilt for an ocean-side city on the brink of getting destroyed by a Tsunami was never Verona's plan, but that's exactly what happened. Could a simple ring truly save her from the ocean's cold grasp? Or are the moments after death just incredibly vivid with dream? Can an ordinary girl actually be thrown through time to find herself stuck in the middle of a magical war over the last remnant of the Earth? Or is this all one last nightmare on her way to the afterlife?

Severed Flame

-The Tale of Varilya and Vanicus-

When the flame aligning two supernatural lovers becomes severed, one witch is left to wander her world alone in an attempt to somehow reconnect it. Through a land being remolded by fire and reshaped by some ancient form of resurrected magic, this is a story of one witch's struggle to touch once more the love that she'd lost, a chronicle of history left shrouded by age's past. This is the tale of Varilya and Vanicus.

Also, below I've added a small peek at Volume 1 of The Hurricane Journals: Vampire Storm. You'll find a couple of familiar names in there, but it is not a direct continuation. The Demon Conquests actually started out as a flashback within The Hurricane Journals. But after its deletion I decided to give it a life of its own and make a completely different set of novellas. It is set to have at least 4 parts, though we'll see how that works out. Just to keep you in the loop – as of this typing – Book 2 of The Demon Conquests should have been released years ago. It is structured and partially written, but The Hurricane Journals took off and I started running in that direction. But look forward to Part Two of this story in the (near?) future. So, in closing, before I step aside, I must thank you once again.

Thank You!!!

Peace and Love!!! Always!!!!!

The Hurricane Journals (Sneak Peek)

(Volume I)

(Vampire Storm)

Monday, August 29th, 2005

So I guess I've got to start all of this over, yet again. This would be the third time in total, but the first in a very long time. When it all began, when I first picked up that initial notebook, it was only to keep track of my experiences. This story had no name, no planned plot. Hell, it was hardly even a story, just a way to keep myself sane in a time of dark reflection. But since that time, after following these individuals for so long, these characters, it was clear that they possessed a life all of their own, and some with a worth that not even I could sway. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'm supposed to be starting from the beginning. And that beginning was a very long time ago, so long, in fact, that many will simply not believe it. Those many will turn away from these pages and never even read these words, and if not for that reason, then definitely as soon as I start talking about witches. So for those few that decide to follow me along this journey, the few that still remain, prepare your minds to enter a realm of fantastical truth that has been blotted out from the pages of history, a realm of the past hidden by shadow, where the race of Witchkind remains concealed to prying eyes.

It all began nearly three-hundred years ago, upon a mighty river's crescent, and very few of the original pages remain. But those that do will be displayed between my recollections of this past, both serving as the only true remnants of that time. Most of those original writings had to be left behind, during an unnamed storm of 1856, one dubbed simply, the Last Island Hurricane. After that, I was forced to rewrite everything I had learned if I wished to pass that knowledge on to the future. But most of that was lost mere minutes ago, as this most recent storm, one given the name of Katrina, decided to carry its floodwaters into the confines of this Crescent City known as New Orleans. All those journals, all that history, drowned by the waves that have claimed this land once more. Thus I must return to that time of so long ago, that time when I first decided to log my experiences onto paper, if I truly wish to keep this knowledge alive... which I do.

There was another hurricane that hovered above this same land at that time, one dubbed by the mortals as 'Terrible', but remembered by the witches as... 'The Vampire Storm'... and that is exactly where I shall begin my journey again...

# Chapter 1 - Arrival

Tuesday, September 22, 1722

D _oes fate exist?_

Can fate exist?

Can such a transcendental force such as fate, or destiny, one which allows not for someone to control their own future, but for it to actually be bestowed upon each and every worthy and unworthy creature, truly exist in such a physical reality? Is that fate which guides our actions? Or is it something far greater than that, something far more powerful than any preordained prophecy could ever predict? Or... maybe all this philosophical crap isn't the way we should begin our journey together. Maybe questions such as those just aren't eye-catching enough. Maybe we need to move things along a little faster. Because, after all, this is all about trust, right? If we plan on making this work, then we both need to trust each other. So, to honor that agreement, allow me to set the stage... right here, no bullshit.

Well, maybe a little bullshit... but that's just how writing goes.

Anyway... alright, let's see... I guess everything really started long before this river's crescent that I now sit upon, before I even realized how capable I was of swaying the future of any events. Because I've never really thought of myself as being anything special, it took awhile before truly understanding the power that I possessed. Before then, I always saw myself as no different from any other creature on this Earth, just as vulnerable to the same emotions as everyone else... joy, anger, happiness, love... but as of late, my goals have become much more focused.

Once I began to realize how different I truly was, how unnatural my evolution had been, joy was no longer something I craved, love became no more than a distraction, and happiness, ha, if only such a thing were possible... because it is anger, the anger I feel from the failures I've accumulated, that I seek to avoid. That anger had guided me for so long, until I learned to rise above it, to conquer it... but conquering that anger wound up costing me everything. By thinking clearly, I only learned how to ignore those who cared for me that much better. But it also brought me closer than ever before to achieving the vengeance I shall always seek.

It was long ago when that vengeance was first spawned, when I basked as a child within the blood of my parents, slaughtered by an ancient species that wished to negate my creation, a species not of this Earth, nor anywhere near it.

The young Sapien race may have come to know them as Gods, but I knew them as nothing more than monsters... monsters without remorse, without emotion... and they destroyed everything that I ever loved, all that I cared for. They took it all away from me, all but my life... which was not theirs to claim, even if they wished.

They left me barren and beaten with the corpses of those I loved broken in the path before me.

But never did I falter from that path, because I knew that it was the only path that led me back to them. No matter how long it took me to find them – whatever star, whichever universe they wanted to hide behind, whether the flesh must be melted from my bones for my hands to reach their necks – their deaths will be mine to claim.

It began with an uprising, and then evolved to a war, but was all thwarted, and not just by those so-called Gods. Those Gods may have locked me inside of a volcano to get rid of me, but it was the guardians left behind by them, the Protectors of Terra, the species of Wicca Urth Dawnicus, that had caused me the most trouble of all. I was able to escape my molten cell in time, but only for them to force me back into hiding, leaving me alone again, and it was there where my true search for achieving my revenge began.

Alone within a frozen landscape, snowcapped domes of ice surrounding me, it was exactly where I had left something very long ago. The memories played out before me as I approached, remembering well the one stubborn bastard that simply refused to cooperate with my plans. When he should have been dead, I had given him a second chance to live. And while he should have been grateful for my actions, still he refused me. This being had once held great power, and still did, but had locked it all away from me, all so I would never be allowed to manipulate it.

But little did he know, at that time and forever more, that simply because he was a conscious being that lived within the realm of this existence, he would always be under my control. And over time, I had learned to maximize that control of mine, and to be patient in my search for vengeance. Just as the Gods before had done to me, birthed my creation in their own image, so did I plan to do for him, to create him anew... in mine.

Never, though, would he give into my ideals, annoying me to the point of no return, fighting against me every chance he found. When at first I saw him as my best chance at achieving my retribution, it seemed that I had made the same mistake as those Gods... my creation, what was meant to be my greatest achievement, had quickly become my mightiest foe.

Thus there was no choice but to dispose of him, no differently than the Gods had done to me.

I left him just outside of the old underground chambers where we used to live, me and... something I'd lost, with a dagger through his heart. But as I arrived at the ice-cave that marked the entrance, he was nowhere to be found, and only a shard of wood covered in frozen blood and the mutilated carcass of a Polar Bear were left in sight.

It seemed that he had awoken and had his first meal... but he had clearly been gone for quite some time.

And not only was he gone, but he was awake for the first time in over a hundred-thousand years. A slumber such as this would have meant death for most species, but the blood that coursed through his veins was anything but normal. Still, despite his length of life, after sleeping for so long, there was no telling how much his mind had deteriorated in that time, how much he would actually remember of his former life. If it was too much, he could ruin all that I had been working towards during his absence. But if his memories have since been washed away by the blackness of his sleep, then it would only be that much easier to manipulate his actions.

And that's exactly why I remained patient, both before and during my search, despite losing my love to the grains of time, because I don't care if fate is working against me. It doesn't matter if fate is even real, because maybe, with the right amount of planning, I can even manipulate it.

Because maybe fate isn't some magical force of the universe... maybe it's just something we all make for ourselves, something that each of us builds for ourselves with each step, every action, all the breaths we take. And maybe that fate is just as unavoidable as any prophesized destiny would be, just as forceful in guiding one's choices, yet still able to be wielded by free will. And if so, does that free will actually allow those otherwise unworthy souls the chance to control their own fate, to help themselves, to, say, rise up beyond one's own given status, becoming worthy of a better future? Or would that, in essence, simply be fate playing its role within the laws of our reality?

Has the future, my future, truly been written by some unseen hand, one that just goes around scribbling the fates of those deemed worthy enough on some random pages somewhere out in the shadows of this existence? Are the words carved within the stones of time truly unchangeable? Or can that destiny be manipulated simply by understanding that it is there, by doing nothing more than reading those words?

I say... maybe it can be.

Maybe each and every one of those weak and feeble creatures walking brazenly throughout this reality has the ability to mold their own future. Maybe destiny can be attained by any that strive towards it, and no mere words carved in any stone would be able to stop them. But either way, in the end, no one would be able to avoid that impossibly long list of decisions and choices that are always left lingering within the inevitable wake that every life tends to leave behind in the end.

Maybe no one escapes their fate, whether designed or not. Maybe it is just impossible to change the future that our own past creates with each passing day. Or maybe I'm just cold, wet and frening lost in some damn swamp, too impatient to think out the entire concept properly.

So I digress.

I don't even know what the fury I'm doing out here, anyway. After tracking this creature seamlessly for the past five years, because of this damn storm I'm probably so far off course and nowhere close to my intended destination. But something keeps tugging at my memories, pulling me towards a familiar feeling in this completely unfamiliar place, words that were spoken so long ago but still found a way to connect to this very moment.

If only this rain would give me a moment to frening think.

Alright... so, now that I've found a nice place to hide from this stupid rain, and since I just explained the whole core of my plans to a frening notebook, everything is beginning to feel a bit clearer. Now I can see that my memories are trying to remind me of something. I had not found this swamp by accident. What that says of fate, I cannot be sure. However I found it, whatever brought me here... I was without a doubt meant to find it... because this is the moment that he was talking about, that crazy old wizard, my ancient adversary of so long ago.

It is the exact river's crescent that he spoke of.

Those words – his words – still rang with clarity inside my mind... "That's where it all went wrong, isn't it... back upon that river's crescent... back in 1722... in that fury-bound swamp... after Ashish disappeared. You found that creation of yours and forgot all about her, didn't you?"

At the time he spoke them, they meant nothing. But over time, without me even noticing, events began to fall into place. When I first met her, her name had been so familiar to me, but never could I place it... not until she was gone.

Only then could anything make sense to me. Ashish is gone because I began my search, and it was in those moments when I realized that I had reached the time that my ancient foe had spoken of, the time he fought so desperately to keep me from reaching. And now, here I stand... upon a river's crescent... within some fury-bound swamp... in the mortal year of seventeen-hundred-and-twenty-two.

Everything in my life has all led up to this, and this will at last lead to the something that I've waited so long for. I can feel it, somehow, this familiar... something or another.

That's what I came here for, the culmination to all of my efforts, and for some reason, maybe because of nothing more than those words that were spoken by my old wizard friend, I know that if I just keep waiting here in this swamp, here in this exact spot, I'll find exactly what I sought out to find all those years ago.

* * *

As I recall it, it was as normal a night as any other in this southernmost swamp of this newly founded province of Louisiana, no reason for me to think otherwise. The moon showing it to be just after midnight – the birthing of a new day, September 22nd, 1722 – I was simply minding my own business, like I always was, looking for something that I had lost track of quite some time ago. Only recently had I made my way, getting lost after following some fresh tracks that I'd found along the banks of a mighty river that cut through this newly found land from top to bottom, The Mighty Mississippi, they would come to call it, to a swamp near the end of it all. I'm not even sure if it had a name at that time, the river or the slowly building settlement hidden within that crescent swamp. But either way, that's where I was, on the edges of that as of yet unnamed mortal settlement that hugged the northern tip of a wide crescent as it curved the great river east and then south before its final miles out to sea, like a wild snake carving through the land.

It was a sight to behold, that river, before they contained it with their levees... murderous yet magnificent, monstrous and wild, its sheer power at times simply breathtaking, as were its depths at all times. That current was like a thousand cold and suffocating hands, splashing and crashing violently, up and down as it churned constantly southward. But while speaking of cold and suffocating hands, that brings me to the claimants of this new land, the mortals.

And I can't even stand the sound of it... mortal.

I even hate the way it is spelled, though it may be the best way to describe them... not cruel or hateful, although both would apply, just... mortal.

They welter quickly and break easily.

Those letters, when placed together in that order, translate a natural death, one brought on by nothing more than time, which I suppose is normal to them. But they should be given a much more degrading name because of all the hurt they've inflicted upon the Mother Earth... maybe something like ' _big dumb ape'_! That would be fitting.

This world suffers now because of them... and in turn, she will always cause them torment. But now I'm just getting ahead of myself. Let me just say that... they are creatures that I am not particularly fond of. In my horribly humble opinion, they are horrid creations... cruel hearted, hateful, greed filled, ill minded, spite driven, war hungry, horribly dressed, murderous souls... just downright disgusting animals. But I am sure _you_ already know that.

These particular mortals, though, the ones colonizing the swamp, were French settlers migrated from the old world to establish their own colonies here in this new one. They were claiming it before anyone else could, just like their greed always forced them to do, ignoring those that already called it home. And then, just like always, they will fight over it. But that would be me getting ahead of myself again. For the time being, they simply built shoddy little shacks and huts to mark it as their territory. These Frenchmen even built a nice sized church. And it, of all they had built, was where most of their time had been spent. More time was put into detailing that thing than anything else.

What strange creatures they were, indeed. And as one of them crossed in front of my line of sight, his head turned sharply to the side, suddenly startled.

He'd heard something. And so had I.

It was a scream coming from the not too far off distance, cutting through the warm night air and catching both of our attentions. But while he ignored it and went about his own business, carrying with him a pail of fish that he would probably go and cook for his family, I moved to investigate.

Leaving him behind, I ducked into the darkness of the tree line alongside the river, slowly and quietly making my way forward, towards the noise, hiding within the shadows that the moonlit swamp provided. The mud squished beneath my feet, but I worked to balance my weight as best as I could, distributing it properly to make the least amount of noise.

As I grew closer, the sounds of struggle became more apparent. More screams were followed by muffled speaking.

"Stay down, bitch, and hold still!!!" A man's deep voice shouted. He wasn't speaking English, but I am more than happy to translate. Another voice quickly followed his, saying, "Hurry up, damn it! We're going to get caught!" This voice trembled, the words almost squeaking their way out of his mouth.

That voice was clearly nervous.

"You shut your damn mouth!" The deep voice countered, "You had your turn, kid. Now don't rush me!"

I could hear a woman's voice beneath his, pleading in her English dialect, "Please stop! Please... no more!"

Then I heard a third man's voice. "Keep your lips shut, whore!" He growled at her before smiling and telling her in pure English, "You haven't even met me, yet!"

I could see them now, on the river bank at the water's edge. The man splashing atop the woman, her bare skin animalized by the wicked thrusts of his hips between hers, and two more of them standing aside, just watching, a young boy and an older man.

The older man was watching intently, stroking himself like some kind of sick animal would if it had limbs to do so. That is all these humans were, anyway, just sick animals that were too smart for their own damn good. The young one, though, was terrified. The fear could be seen in his eyes as he looked from side to side, afraid of being caught by whatever god he hid from. I could have killed them all where they stood in that instant, giving their kind exactly what it deserved for all the years of injustice they had given to this world and all the creatures upon it. But this was not my fight, not my place to get involved. I had searched in silence for too long to speak up now, and I was closer than ever before.

I could feel it.

Something off to the left pulled at my attention, something that was hiding just as I was, but did not notice me. Frozen where I stood, I was unwilling to reveal myself just yet. And to my complete amazement, there it was, just what I'd been looking for, the creature I had lost track of back in 1717, when my reaction to realizing it was missing prompted my love to leave my side. I had halted out efforts towards our destiny to hunt it down, an importance that she could not yet see, and she decided to follow me no longer.

She felt it a useless piece to the puzzle we were attempting to build, a statement that I refuted by chasing after it instead of her, and now, completely by accident, by sheer chance, or maybe it was no more than fate's design... either way, I had found him at last.

Four years of strenuous searching, endless heartbreak, following unknown trails, taking directions from tribes of natives that I could hardly communicate with, from the frozen tundra of the north to the sweltering burn of the south, it had all led me to this very moment, the exact patch of mud my feet were now stuck within, when I could watch one of the rarest creatures alive on this Earth hunt with my own two eyes.

All the pain that my lost love left behind was gone. Suddenly there was only relief, and maybe a bit of restlessness along with it. Regardless, though, there was no need for me to get involved, none at all. I only had to watch now. I was at that moment freed from my search, and my studies could thus resume.

My love would have to wait. There was no choice in that. From that moment on, just as it was planned, I was merely there to observe, to watch this... this spectacle of nature... that I had been following from the frozen peak of this land to the deep hot swamps of its southern tip, where I found him once again.

This rarity of the Earth stepped silently towards them, not too far away from where I was crouched in the bushes. The young boy caught the motion out of the corner of his eye. He froze as his eyes darted from side to side, searching for what he could have seen. After a moment passed, however, he realized that there was nothing else around that fit the height of the movement he saw, and came to the quick conclusion that it had to be someone sneaking around in the swamp.

"Somebody's here, guys." The young one said in a near panic to the other two.

The man that was on the woman stood up. After putting his pants back on and looking around, he turned back to the boy. "There isn't anybody anywhere. Now shut up and stop being so damn paranoid!"

The woman was trying to slide away, but the older man stopped her by putting his boot upon her chest, right between her bare breasts. "You aren't going anywhere, missy." He growled under his heavy breath. "Like I said before, you haven't even met me yet."

But the darkened figure had already made his move by the time the old man had finished his sentence, reaching out and grabbing the middle aged 'gentleman' by his long blonde locks and pulling his head closer to him, ready to feed. The mortals bone structure, though, was much weaker than the shadowy figure had expected, and he wound up ripping the man's head right off, taking half the spinal cord with it as he nearly lost his balance. His attack became awkward as he swung around with the head still in his hands, knocking the young boy straight in the face with what was left of his friend. As the young boy screamed, the stupefied stranger was left with the blonde wig of his friend gripped tightly within his grasp as he stumbled backwards. The boy's shrill had startled him, and he nearly tripped over the nude woman on the ground, but he stopped himself from falling with an outreached hand around the boy's neck, pulling himself towards him.

The third man finally turned around as he felt and saw the blood raining down upon him, only to see someone, or something, ripping into the throat of the boy. It looked human, but there was something vicious, something cold about the figure that separated him from them.

There was nothing human about this unknown figure, nothing at all.

"What the hell is this!!!?" The mortal yelled out, stumbling back over the naked woman to fall on his ass.

The boy was tossed into the dirt beside her, bloodied, his throat torn open and eyes left wide, staring right at the old man's feet. The old man's eyes then turned upward to meet those of the killer who, with blood running down his chin and staining his chest, sent a cold chill straight up the man's spine with his mere glance. Stinking of fear as the blood stained figure bent down towards him and growled in a low and painful voice from behind the black hair that hung like vines to shroud his face, "I guess you must not have met me yet."

A demonic grin split across his face just as he leapt over the body of the boy and the crying woman and sunk his extended fangs deep into the man's neck, taking from him the life-force that kept him alive as he lifted him up to his feet, the blood rolling down his shoulder glistening in the moonlight.

The old man vibrated with terror as he went into shock and lost all consciousness, but was drained until his blood began to taste strangely sour, almost sickly, and the body was then dropped down next to the river as the bloody hero fell back onto the rocks beside it in exhaustion. He must not have been used to taking on so much rich blood, such as that of the mortals, as it seemed to leave him throbbing with energy. But an acrid taste seemed to be left behind in his mouth as he spat into the water, one that he seemed to ignore.

Blood soaked the rocks along the river's edge as he sat along them, the bodies of his victims surrounding him. The woman then stood up cautiously, keeping her eyes on the strange new being basked in her assailant's crimson red blood. She covered up her breasts with one arm and wrapped a piece of her torn clothing around her waist as she walked ever so respectfully over to the strange man sitting on the rocks beside her, the strange man that had just saved her life.

She then spoke nervously. "I don't know who... or what you are... but... I have to thank you." Speaking softly to him despite her nerves, her head lowered in a show of shame. Her savior, though, just looked up at her with puzzlement upon his face, but not because of the way she was acting. It seemed as if he was not quite sure what she was telling him.

The woman then dropped down to her knees and tears began to fall into her hands as she covered her face. "Those men would have killed me," she cried, grateful to this mysterious savior, "And you saved my life. You saved my life! Thank you!"

With curiosity, he looked into her teary brown eyes, ignoring completely her exposed breasts that she was so quick to cover up again, and smiled, realizing what she was telling him despite the clear language barrier. "Oh, no," he said to her as he sat up and reached out to stroke her face, wiping away the strange wetness upon it. "Do not thank me for saving your life." He told her softly. "I have done no such thing."

The woman looked at him strangely, still more worried with covering herself up than anything else. "What... what are you saying?" She asked with curious wide eyes, trying to push away the sudden brushes of fear tingling throughout her flesh.

The stranger smiled brightly towards her, showing clearly the two fangs that were extended down from his gums, overlapping his canine teeth. "I have merely saved you for last." And with that, he grabbed her by the back of the head and pulled her into his tightening grasp, her face showing the sudden fright that she felt. But not a sound was made as he sunk those fangs deep into her neck, piercing through her pale white flesh and lifting her up off the ground to better drain her of her sweet crimson life, it tasting so much better than that of the old man and the boy. The rush from it was so intense he could not even release her from his arms. This was a vampire, a creature who found no reason to let such fine blood go to waste.

But then, just as suddenly as he had leapt forth from the bushes, two hands grabbed him by the shoulders from behind and flung him high up into the air with a mighty show of strength. The woman fell from his grasp to crumple onto the ground in a heap of tattered skin as he flew backwards through the air, almost grasping towards the delicate flesh that was being wasted right before his eyes.

The vampire must've been twenty feet up and thirty feet away when he finally regained his bearings in mid-air, realizing he was now being attacked by an unknown assailant, and back flipped out of the fall to land on a foot and one knee, skidding back through the mud and rocks some fifty feet away from where he'd been thrown.

He lifted up his head, flinging back his night-black hair from his face to see whoever it was that had thrown him. Because whoever it was, they had shown him a strength that he had never felt before. It made him ever so curious.

As his eyes focused, he saw, standing about twenty yards away, three figures alongside the river; a large male, muscles bulging, tattered blonde hair swiping at his shoulders, a small male, his form more sleek than anything, with his brown hair slicked back tight across his skull, and the slender figure of a female, her stance bold but unthreatening, eager but at the same time cautious. Her blood red hair was shining brightly in the moonlight and bouncing lightly behind her in the wind, standing out as the most clearly visible feature he could see from his distance.

The lone stranger to this new and unknown land stood up quickly after assessing the situation. He thought he had them figured out as soon as he got to his feet, and he recklessly began to charge them. Feeling threatened, he was reacting on instinct alone and showing no fear to his new opponents. But before he could even set his first step upon the ground, just as his back foot was rising up off the dirt, the small figure was in his face, smiling at him as he smacked him back down to the ground with a swift and surprisingly powerful right hand!

The vampire was dropped onto his ass and slid backwards by the impact, but recovered quickly and got right back to his feet. By the time he looked up to fight back, though, which only took a moment, all three figures were still standing together off in the distance.

Instead of taking up a logical defensive stance, though, his instincts thrust him back into action. Beginning to charge forward again, before the second of his steps even hit the ground, that same fist slammed into his face again.

He didn't even see it coming, even though he should have expected it, and nor did he know who had thrown it. The vampire did manage to keep himself standing that time, however, and by the time his head spun back around, the three figures were still standing in their same positions, twenty yards away.

He shook away his dizziness, asking no questions as he charged forward yet again, only this time he noticed the movement he'd been missing. It happened quickly, hardly even noticeable at all, but the small figure suddenly vanished before his eyes. Then, within that same second, his fist was once again slamming into the intruder's face. That time, the punch dropped him to one knee.

Regaining his footing quickly, though, one hand held his jaw while the other held a fist out in front of him, only to find himself staring back at the same three figures, still standing twenty yards away.

Little did he know it at the time, but these were no mere mortals that he was dealing with. These were three powerful and skilled Witches. And not any 'pointy-nosed, mole-faced, broomstick witches' that Hollywood likes to throw around either, but instead, the species known as Wicca Urth Dawnicus, beings that had been evolving on this Earth long before human kind had ever even found their way into the trees in the first place.

They called themselves many things, Willborn, Warwalker, Waken, and their evolution took many paths at once, Wizards, Warlocks, Sorcerers, but there was one thing that they all had in common, through blood relation, through genetic code, they were all Witches. All connected to that element of the universe that humans were not, these beings tampered with a realm of physics that mortals simply couldn't grasp. Each witch had a vast understanding of the energy fields that covered the Earth and filled each being upon it. Anything that breathed life, or produced energy of any sort, the witches had the ability to access that energy supply at will, as well as much, much more.

One of these witches standing opposite my find was familiar to me, very familiar. Her name was Jade Tytanicus, and she was the daughter of the legendary elder witch Katrina Tytanicus, who was a former member of the Elder's High Council, and whose story is for another time.

_This_ is the story of how her daughters' quest for power collided with a lost soul's journey for knowledge, and they were just about to meet each other.

Earlier in the night, I had seen Jade speaking to several of her superiors. A storm was coming at them from the south, you see, and a very large storm, one with enough power for them to sense its approach many days in advance. But weeks before that, they began sensing something far more powerful than even that storm, coming from the north. These witches had no way of knowing what it could have been. All they knew that no witch or wizard currently alive that could generate such immense power.

They became curious.

Maybe another storm was coming?

A storm that powerful, though, from the north, made no sense. As the witches understood it, storms like that needed time to magnify their powers, time that the land would not allow, so as it grew closer, coming within a few miles of their hideaway, they sent Jade to find out what it was.

Jade was one of the more powerful witches among them, having a bloodline that ran pure, all the way back to beyond ancient times, to the 'Time Before Time'. Not many witches left alive could say that. That was why she had been given the task of finding the source of that power and finding it was exactly what she had done. It led her right to this creature, this Vampire, and no, he _did not_ sparkle. She knew what all the legends said, what all witches believed, that vampires could never be trusted, that they would always create war, but this was the first one she'd seen in this new land of theirs, the land that they so luckily found after being forced out of the Old World. And besides the battle that had forced them out of their old home, this was the first vampire she had seen in millennia.

Now she too was curious.

She wanted to know who he was and why he was there, wished to learn from him. There were many questions she wished she could ask him, or any vampire for that matter, most of which pertained to that night, that battle five years before, when they were banished from that home of theirs. But at the end of the day, she knew she only had one choice, one option, one solution... and that was to kill him.

Instead of charging recklessly once again, this time the vampire stood perfectly still, waiting for someone else to make the first move. Even at such a young age and with no training whatsoever, he was learning when to react to someone stronger than himself. The witch, Jade, could have put any number of spells on such an unsuspecting victim from where she was standing. But, then again, from where she was standing, this was a vampire that already knew how to counter each one of those spells, a seasoned assassin.

This vampire, though, was anything but that.

After a few long moments of silence without action, he finally made his move, one that showed his inexperience. As soon as his shoulders turned, the small one disappeared again, and I was ready to watch that fist slam back into the vampire's face. But the vampire was ready for it this time, surprising everyone by catching on so quickly to the game they were playing with him. On this third attempt, he slid in the dirt to stop his forward momentum, keeping his vision spread out in all directions, and then reached out his arm. His hand then wrapped tight around the throat of the small figure as he blinked suddenly into view.

The eyes of the little warlock opened up wide with fear, no, not fear, not quite. But to the senses of a vampire, it was close enough. He began to feed off of that emotion, letting it drive his reflexes. Ready to rip that little throat in two, he would have done exactly that had it not been for the witch. With the wave of her arm, the air around the vampire whipped him across the face and punched him in the gut, all at once, like one big wall of water!

The vampire was thrown back, releasing his grip on the warlock who then began chasing after him as he flew back through the air. The vampire watched the little warlock dart behind him as he rolled over himself in the dirt and then felt the point of his knee as it was driven into his lower back in mid-roll. The vampire bent backwards from the shot, allowing the warlock to stretch around him and send one hard hammer-fist down into his chest, dropping him into the dirt. Everything happened in a flash, the little warlock hardly even able to be seen. The vampire recovered quickly and tried to stand, but was held down by a tiny foot pressed down against his throat.

The vampire groaned in anger as he grabbed the warlock's foot and yanked it out from under him, wasting no motion. As the warlock hit the ground, his leg was being tied up by the now standing vampire. The bloodless one had the warlock by the ankle, wrapping one arm around his leg and slipping the other through it, grabbing the toe of his boot and then using his own forearm for leverage as he began to twist. The warlock was clearly in pain, the tendons in his foot popping slowly, but never did he let out even as much as a yelp of displeasure. The vampire was ready to completely shatter the ankle of the warlock when he was again hit by a massive gust of air sent forth by the witch.

The vampire was thrown over top of the warlock, but managed to hold on to his ankle, bending his leg as he was toppled, cracking it and twisting it in a very awkward way. As soon as the vampire hit the ground, though, shoulder first, his grip was released and the warlock quickly slithered away. The vampire was face down in the dirt for a moment as the warlock stood up and began limping towards him, dragging his now injured foot. He heard him inching closer, his limp foot grinding against the rocks, and he flipped over onto his back as he spun himself around, instantly kicking the warlock's legs out from under him. The little warlock hit the ground with a thud, straight onto his back, as the vampire stood tall, driving his foot hard into his gut as he catapulted off of him and started charging towards the other two figures. Watching the witch wave her hand, he got smacked again with a gust of air, the shot focused solely on his face, and it flipped him over sideways.

The vampire hit the ground face first, followed by his chest and finally his legs. After shaking himself off, he simply looked up at the witch from the ground and let a smirk cross his lips as he pushed himself back up, showing her that he was indeed enjoying himself. As he charged again, she saw it only fitting to smile back at him, and then she waved her arm once more. This time, though, the vampire rolled to the opposite side of her movement, dodging the invisible air being thrown at him, which was very impressive for someone who didn't even understand the physics behind what was happening.

His roll hardly made him break stride as he continued his break for the both of them. Jade then waved her arm again, but this time it was to order the giant figure on her right to attack. That muscle-bound body all but obscured the moon behind them as the giant silhouette stepped out in front of the witch, but the vampire never backed down.

The vampire wasn't hesitant of the larger opponent. Instead, he ran straight at him, almost as if he was used to fighting foes bigger than himself, and he easily dodged the first swing from the giant arm, sliding backwards in the dirt as it swung in front of him. He then ran right for him and leapt straight up into the air, a fist rising above his head as he did, preparing to strike... but he was swatted away like a fly before he could even make contact with the large warlock's face.

After that strike, the vampire was sent skidding into the dirt, sliding to a stop fifteen feet away. But he was back on his feet in an instant, raising the eyebrow of the witch. And upon getting back up, after wiping away the dripping blood from his chin, he was ready to charge again... but the upraised hand of the witch stopped him.

"Wait!" she shouted with a weight only her voice could carry, calling a halt to the action. The Tytanicus witch allowed her voice to sink in for a moment before stepping out from around the giant warlock, giving the vampire a better look at her in the moonlight, and she gazed upon this new foe of hers.

The vampire, though, stared right back at her, his knees suddenly trembling with a feeling unfamiliar to his bones. Her figure stood before him as if molded by a god. A long slender blade was strapped to her side, her dress tight around her body, solid black – extending out slightly below her waist with frayed edges hanging down loose to her ankles. Shoulders naked, breasts pushed upwards, long sleeves of lace wrapped around her hands and stretched up her arms, beyond her elbows – dark red hair waving up and down with the breeze behind a look of curiosity that covered her face.

"So now that you see that I am clearly not dressed for battle, tell me," she began to ask, demanding an answer with the tone of her voice, "Why are you here?"

The vampire seemed confused, as if he wasn't used to answering questions. He merely shrugged his shoulders and responded with a question of his own, "Why did you attack me?"

"Because you are a vampire," the witch answered him simply.

That response seemed to confuse him even further. He repeated the word several times in his own mind, unsure of what it meant, before asking aloud, "A what?", having no idea what he was getting accused of being.

"Do not play ignorant with me, vampire," Jade snapped at him, waving her finger back and forth, "We saw you feeding. You cannot hide from us what you are."

But the vampire could only shake his head as he asked her, "How can I be hiding something that I don't even know of?"

He spoke with honesty, confusing the witch. But after thinking about it for a minute, she shook her head as well, responding with, "I cannot believe that you do not know of yourself. I would be a fool to believe that."

"Well, maybe I'm the fool, then." The vampire laughed before getting serious again. "Look, whatever you think, it isn't what I was doing. If this is your food here, that's fine, I can just leave. You just have to let me pass, and trust me... I will not bother you again, ever."

Jade looked at him strangely for a moment, but then began to shake her head again, allowing a sinister grin to lift up her lips. "I am sorry, vampire... but I cannot do that."

The small warlock was right behind the vampire, and the vampire knew it. He had heard his limp leg being dragged across the dirt the entire way. And he also knew, from that last comment, that they had no intention of letting him go free. So, finding no other options, he spun himself around without another word and kicked the warlock right in the injured ankle, dropping him again to the ground. But as he spun back around, he was chopped down himself by the huge fist of the other warlock. He fell onto his side and scrambled to his feet, getting out of the way of the second fist as it came crashing down into the dirt behind him. Then, with the large warlock clearly off balance, the vampire lunged forward and smashed him in the jaw with his extended fist.

As the impact knocked him backwards, staggering him, the vampire very quickly followed that punch with another, this one right to the gut of the behemoth. In response, though, as the huge warlock curled over from the shot, he grabbed the vampire by the head with one hand and balled the other into a fist. And to detail the enormity of this warlock, as he punched the vampire, his fist covered his entire face, with the knuckle of his pinky touching the vampire's forehead, and the knuckle of his index finger just under his chin.

The vampire was knocked back with intense force, putting him at the feet of the injured warlock who had just stood back up.

As the small warlock reached down, the vampire kicked upwards with his feet from his back. His feet, though, slipped just to the left of the warlock's face, and the sound of his injured foot dragging in the dirt sounding his evasion as the vampire had his legs snatched up and slammed down onto the rocks near the river's edge.

Knee caps smashed against jagged stones, payback for the injury he'd given the warlock only a few moments before. As he moved to push himself back up, the ground literally exploded in front of him, throwing him to the furthest edges of the rocks, inches away from the rushing water. He couldn't help but glance down at the raging current, only inches from his face, as a single droplet of sweat tumbled from his brow and disappeared into the river.

As the vampire wiped away his nerves, it took him only a few seconds to scramble back up the river bank, right towards the little guy, unsure of what had happened to get him that close to the river but sure of how dangerous it was to be that close to it. One wrong step could easily be anyone's last, and he understood that better than most. He had tossed many corpses into its depths, the bodies of those that had fed him along his journey south, and he assured himself that he would not be the next.

Upon stumbling back into the dirt, away from the rocks, the vampire was greeted with a sudden and swift kick to the back of his left knee. It knocked him off balance and sent him down onto his back again. Luckily, though, he found himself right next to the limp leg of the warlock. So, with nothing else to do, he balled his hand into a fist and punched the little guy right in his injured ankle. With a pop, his leg buckled. And then with a few hops, the warlock stumbled away, seemingly thwarted.

This gave the vampire enough time to stand back up, but only to be snatched up from behind once again by the larger of his foes. The little warlock then hopped back around, trying to ignore the pain that shot up his leg with each step he took, and he began throwing out fists in rapid succession. The vampire was beaten in the face at least eight times without it ever looking like the little warlock even moved his arms away from his sides. After the quick beat-down, the big warlock lifted the vampire up into the air, ready to slam him down hard, but the vampire somehow wiggled free of his grasp and slipped behind him. He was still a bit dazed, though, and had no counter for the little warlock as he shot between the legs of his larger counterpart and connected across his chin with a looping left hook.

With the vampire now staggered, Jade snapped off the branch of a nearby tree. With one stroke of her hand, the branch became cleaned of all leaves and its tip sharpened. She then tossed it over to the little warlock who then snatched it out of the air. The vampire just looked over at him with weary eyes, his arms raised lazily in front of him. Doing all he could just to keep himself standing, the power of those punches was like nothing he'd ever combated before. That was evident in his posture. Standing with confidence at first, now he was slumped over, becoming unsure of how to defeat these two. Thus the dagger being waved at him, which should have served as the ultimate threat for a vampire, instilled in their DNA, it hardly even got his attention. He was more concerned with taking that big guy down. The little one was hardly even taken as a threat, despite his wooden dagger.

So as the big guy began to circle around the vampire, drawing his attention, the little one struck. Lunging forward with the wooden shard, it was only to get snatched around the wrist. As he and the vampire struggled for control, though, the big one came in from behind and wrapped him up in a bear hug, pinning his arms up against his sides.

The skinny little warlock showed no emotion at all as he stabbed down once more. The vampire, however, with his eyes locked on the wooden shard, kicked off the ground to lift himself up a bit. Then, while still wrapped up in the bulging arms of the large warlock, he knocked the little guy back with two solid feet to the chest. As the vampire's feet hit the ground once more, he slid straight down to escape the large warlock's grasp. But as he popped back up, it was only to see the blur of a dagger stabbing down at him, and with no time to think about reacting, in a purely defensive reaction, he simply stuck out his fist to defend himself.

And the little warlock, to his complete surprise, slammed right into it, face first, sending the dagger free from his grasp and flipping through the air. As it left the little warlock's hand, the big guy started snatching at it, which left his right side wide open, and the vampire saw it.

With a hop to add a bit of momentum, he drove the point of his elbow deep in between the thick ribs of the large warlock, crumpling him over in pain as the dagger hit the ground. Then, instead of capitalizing on the situation, after picking up the sharpened wood from the dirt, he turned to face the clearly surprised witch.

"Is this what you were trying to do?" The vampire asked as he plunged the wooden shard hard into the front side of his own left shoulder, not flinching in the slightest bit as it was stabbed into his flesh. He held it there for a moment as he held the witch's gaze, a smile twisting his lips upwards as he did, and then ripped it out to toss it aside, allowing the blood to squirt and ooze from his self-inflicted wound.

The witch didn't seem fazed at all, however, keeping her arms steady at her sides. If anything, she seemed anxious, and maybe a bit confused by his placement of the dagger, just inches away from his own heart, but mostly anxious, her fingers twitching, waiting to react, _wanting to react_. The wind was still gently blowing her blood red hair behind her, whipping it to and from her back as her head tilted to the side in silent question.

The vampire's thick black bangs were hanging down into his face, being blown back and forth with each deep breath he exhaled. Neither of his fangs was extended, showing he had no intention of feeding upon them, but both of his arms were held in front of him, hands closing into fists, ready to act. The veins of his forehead were protruding outward with aggression, pulsating in excitement, throbbing red like a river of molten lava tumbling down from a volcano. They each met each other's gaze for a mere instant, and then both sprung forward at once, in unison, each eager to test their might upon the other. And in one spectacular and brilliant moment of explosive aggression, they both went at each other, the vampire and the witch.

Fists were being thrown and knocked away so fast that it was hard to keep up. The air whooshed with the speed at which every attack was being thrown, and despite that speed at which those attacks were being thrown, none of them were landing successfully. His right hand would be knocked away by her left as he slid his head over to dodge her right, and then their fists would collide and send out huge shockwaves of energy, nothing that could be seen easily, but the surrounding air would actually vibrate with every impact, trembling with each collision, shaking the leaves on the trees above them and kicking up dirt from the ground at their feet. He would duck a kick and throw a wild one of his own, only for her to block it with her extended arm, and more violent thrusts of invisible energy would explode outward.

This vampire pushed himself to a limit he never knew he had, his concentration peaked. The look on his face was one of sheer determination, wanting ever so badly to just get this witch out of his way. But the look on the witch's face was quite the opposite, filled with pure shock as she was utterly baffled by every aspect of his fighting style... the way he moved, how he attacked... as if death wasn't a factor at all. And the surprising strength that he exhibited, it was a strength she wasn't sure she would be able to conquer, which was something she wasn't used to believing was possible, and it was that shock, and those thoughts, that played a major role in her concentration being broken. She went right, moving her right arm to block, when she should have gone left, and got hammered across the face with a looping right hand.

The shot crumpled her to her knees, one punch, and the reverberation of its impact had the air trembling around them. Left dazed for a long moment, the vampire saw his chance to attack... but he never even made a move. Thus, in response, Jade lifted herself back up and, in one fluid motion, backhanded him across the face. From left to right, her knuckles clattered against his jaw, spinning his head sideways.

Eyes whipping back towards her in an instant, his hair being flung from right to left as their visions locked together. He could have easily responded in turn, but decided against it. Instead, the vampire simply started pacing around her, sniffing the air. He was noticing that her scent was very unique, like nothing else he'd ever sensed before, even when he compared it to the scent of the two warlocks, and that was because it was unique. It was the scent of the 'blood beyond time', which was the powerful witch bloodline that Jade had inherited, one known as Tytanicus. It would normally cause any vampire to drool over the mere thought of it, although it was rumored to kill any that drank of it, but this vampire reacted very differently. At first he seemed shaken by it, but never taken aback, and then he seemed to simply ignore it, which was very surprising.

"I'm leaving," He told her simply, and then began walking away.

But her rising laughter stopped him where he stood. "Did you truly believe this to be that simple?" She asked as she pointed down the river bank. "Did you really think that one punch would grant your escape?"

The vampire shrugged his shoulders as he turned back around, not surprised by her response at all. "On any other occasion, absolutely," he told her in all of his honesty.

"Well, this is clearly not just any other occasion," Jade spoke wryly, turning her finger towards him, "And you are clearly not just any other vampire."

"Why do you keep calling me that?" He groaned in aggravation.

Jade just looked at him with an odd smirk, staring at him for a good minute. "And that may be the strangest part. Normally I would never fall for such a simpleminded trick... but..." She began to look his face over as her words trailed away, searching for any signs of deceit. "But I can find no signs of doubt," She mumbled as she shook her head. "You seem... confused more than anything else." Her arms then folded as she asked him, "You really don't know... do you?"

The vampire didn't say anything. He just shook his head, dropping his arms to his sides and opening up his palms to try and show that he meant them no harm.

"You could have attacked me a moment ago. Why didn't you?" asked the witch.

The vampire again shrugged his shoulders, saying, "I see no need in harming you. I just want to leave."

Jade could only shake her head in her own confusion. "I've never known a vampire to act like that, not even if they have recently fed," she admitted to him, "But you... you seem to be... different."

"As do you," he let her know, "No one has ever fought me like you did. Never have I been challenged so thoroughly. You must tell me... I've been searching for so long, and you, the way you move, how you fight, it is the closest I've ever come to feeling something familiar... I must know... who are you? Are you a vampire as well?"

Jade looked at him strangely for a long moment before finally responding, "You know, I should really be the one asking you that question. So how about you tell me... who are you?"

The vampire smiled, "Well, if it's an answer you seek, you won't be satisfied with it... not if you really want to know." He told her.

"And why is that?" She asked him in turn.

"Because that's exactly what I've been trying to figure out since the moment I can remember," he explained in brief.

Jade's left eyebrow rose in question, "What, who you are?" She asked.

The vampire nodded.

Jade looked questioningly into his eyes as she stepped closer to him, doubting that it could be true, but could find no signs that he was lying. She knew, though, that vampires could be masters of deceit. They had fooled countless individuals into their own deaths throughout the ages. But as she looked into this vampire's eyes, all she could see was a blank suffering, a seemingly empty void. This vampire knew nothing, not of his kind, nor of himself. Deep inside of him, where all of his memories were supposed to be, all she could find was a blank slate, clear of all that unavoidable fear that builds up throughout the years of each life's experience, and full of only confusion. Witches of her nature could normally sense the emotions that one carried with them, brought on by all of their past transgressions, but this vampire had none.

"Well," she said, "That makes things a bit interesting, now, doesn't it?"

The vampire again shrugged his shoulders, saying, "I suppose... if you say so."

A few moments passed while Jade contemplated the situation. She knew that she should kill him where he stood, but with the way things were going within her own brood, she knew that keeping this vampire at her side would give her a position of power. It could be the chance she'd been waiting for. It was a risk, but it would be a very calculated risk, one that, because of political squabbling within her own clan, she found to be worth taking.

"So... does that mean you're going to let me leave?" The vampire asked.

Jade's attention turned back towards him, a look of brilliance painted across her face. "No," she said, and then asked, "But what would you say if I told you that... I may be able to help you?"

The vampire smudged his lips, finding that to be an odd offer. "Well... I would say... how can I trust you after everything that just happened?"

Jade only smiled. "I think that, over time, you will find it to be quite simple."

He shook his head as he pointed at her, "But you attacked me for no reason."

"Ah," she stopped him from going any further, "That is what you must learn around here. You had no right to feed upon those humans. That is something we cannot stand for in this place. No matter how much we want their incompetence wiped away... they cannot be killed. Their blood cannot be on our hands, not now, and maybe not ever again... not when we're so frening close... and that's just the way it has to be. Do you understand that?"

The tone of her voice again demanded an answer, and not just any answer, but the right answer. It was like her voice was inside of his head, manipulating the correct words out of his mouth. "Yes... yes, I understand." He spoke almost apologetically.

"Good... now clean up your mess and follow me." The words left her lips in a calming, almost relaxing tone, and his nerves became suddenly at ease.

He didn't really know why, but there was something about her, the way she carried herself, the way that words floated out of her mouth, that made him want to listen, something that made him yearn to follow her. And as he went to toss the bodies of his victims into the river, the witch was already shouting out new orders to the two silent warlocks that he had been fighting with, and, just as he had done, they listened to every word, following her instructions despite their obvious displeasure. They didn't trust the vampire at all. They wanted him dead, and he them, but the witch's words alone kept them from acting upon that newborn hatred. And if she ever desired, her words could always have them at each other's throats once more... as long as she was able to put things in order, that is. The arrival of this vampire opened up her eyes to a brand new world of possibilities, a brand new world that coincided with the arrival of this storm, and she intended on taking complete advantage of it all... as did I.

* * * * * * * * *

It wasn't until the final body splashed into the water that I spotted movement just to my left. Subtle at first, making only the same sounds that any animal could make, but then there were three distinct footsteps... one... two... three.

I could hear the leaves crumpling into the mud, and the mud squishing beneath the weight of someone's boot. Without a doubt, I knew, my eyes were not the only eyes watching all of this. Someone else was just as curious as I, and that made me even more curious about them. I wanted to know who it was that had sat silent by my side that entire time, and why they were so curious about all of this. So I slowly turned my attention to the direction that the noises had just come from, scanning through the trees for any movement.

I saw none.

But then, as I peered through the over-hanging moss of a tree only ten yards away, I saw a very familiar face, one which covered up, with a disguise of beauty, one of the finest minds to ever walk the Earth. Her dark orange hair was hung softly upon her cheeks, its tips tickling the peaks of her breasts, her eyes sunken from years within the harsh confines of the swamp.

Her name was Heather, her origin one of mystery, and I could only wonder what the years had done to her. It had been over four-thousand years since I'd last seen her, upon some mountaintop that they called Peace Peak, trying to finish some ancient spell. But then, just as suddenly as I'd found her, and just as suddenly as she'd disappeared all that time ago, she disappeared before my eyes. In a bright flash of light, hardly even noticeable to the untrained eye, she was gone. It was an ability normally confined to the wizard bloodline, self-teleportation, but it didn't surprise me at all that its difficulty was within her grasp. There was something special about her, and I was sure that I would see her again, but the question still remained... she wasn't here by accident... so why was she here?

What did she want?

I knew that there was only one thing that I could do, and that was to wait and find out. She would show her intentions in time, as would every other witch hidden within this swamp, and I would make sure that there would always be eyes upon them for when each one of them finally did.

Continued here --- <https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/180010>
