“Isn’t it about time already?” I asked, the reigns of my horse tightly in my hands.
“Well, they did tell us to wait.” Luna admitted, scanning the horizon unfruitfully.
“It’s my brother … definitely.” The four idiots were running late … again. They had told us we should wait half an hour, and so we did exactly that. But even a full hour later, they weren’t back so far.
“Hannah?” I asked and didn’t even have to wait for a reply as her horse made a jump forwards and made its way to the forest in the distance. Before she could enter it though, she pulled one her reigns and turned around quickly. At first, I couldn’t spot any reason for her behaviour until a whole horde of demons from lizards to bulls ran behind her.
“Well, that certainly didn’t go as planned.” I muttered and drew my blade to point it at the enemy. “Earth mages! Show us what you are made off!” I shouted out loudly and witnessed how the most versatile magic class of all did its work. Flirty two mages put their hands onto the ground and all mumbled the same spell.
While Hannah made a quick turn for the right, the other demons still rushed towards us feverish.
“Halt it … halt it.” My horse trembled as the group beneath it shook violently. The demons were getting closer and closer until they were less than twenty metres away. The mages in the front line trembled a lot, but none of them fired off their spell, a testimony to our relentless training over the last days. “Now!” I shouted loudly and the close combatants around me roared loudly. The mages let the magic take its course and the feet beneath the horde of demons turned into mud, slowing them down if not completely incapacitating them.
The mages quickly retreated behind the warriors which closed their ranks and blocked off any demon which was unlucky enough to escape the obvious trap.
“Charge!” I shouted as the ground hardened and witnessed how our second line, consisting of the more nimble warriors dashed ahead, slicing at the stopped demons and tearing them apart in the process. Even more magics were activated, targeting the middle or end of the horde respectively.
I was finally on a small battlefield again. And yet, I was a mere figurine on it, not even allowed to take part in it. I could merely feel the death from afar, which was enough to make me thirsty for more, but not actually to sate my desires. Well, nothing would be.
“I can see them!” Luna said, pointing towards the forest which hundred of demons still coming out of it. And somewhere there was a group consisting of my for idiots, fighting in all that mess.
“What are they thinking …” I muttered, clearly not getting what they were thinking. I didn’t know if it was on purpose or not, but they let themselves be pushed further and further towards us by the never ending stream of demons , directly into the area where our magics hit.
“Cease fire! Tanks to the front! Protect the others! Mages! Focus on fighting visible targets!” Immediately I gave out new orders, probably saving the four idiots life in the process. Gripping onto my sword tightly, I how everything Hannah and I had planned crumbled in front of my eyes. And the price for that had to be paid in blood. Mere metres in front of me, a sturdy man was cut in half by a crab like demon. Immediately, a dangerous opening appeared in our defence which was thankfully quickly plucked by Hannah’s crackling electricity.
My horse got a lot more nervous at this point and Luna started to have problems with hers as well as something exploded right in front of the first line of defence. Gore splattered everywhere, large organs fell in bits all around us and for a second, it seemed as if it was raining blood all over us.
“That’s explosive blood!” Someone behind me shouted out a bit scared while I licked a bit off it of my fingertips. It was slimy and tasted absolutely disgusting.
“Cease your fire spells!” I shouted out immediately afterwards and watched how mages dumped the front line with water to clean them off the liquid. Distancing myself a little from them, I evaded their water magic completely and rather waited at the end of of our little army which slowly dealt with the demons. At last, it appeared that the four idiots had managed to get inside the formation as well, and Hannah ordered everyone to blast them with explosive magic once more.
“Is it … going alright?” Luna asked, patting the mane of her startled horse while I closed my eyes. No … it wasn’t going alright. This was admittedly one of the harder forests we cleared out with everyone avoiding it like the plague usually, but still. Four men had to die for … yeah, for what exactly? They certainly wouldn’t be hurt if the idiots had stuck to the plan.
Looking towards the ending battle, I squinted my eyes as Gregory walked right past us towards the cart filled with alcoholic beverages, Ellie ran towards Louis who was near the back line with the other mages and Schwarz ran towards me. Only Sofie made a sensible decision by staying behind and tending to the wounded.
These four were once again the issue. They always managed to do things their own way which was exactly not what any sensible person would like to see in an army.
“Forty six! I killed forty six demons!” Schwarz said and threw his arms into the air.
“Congratulations.” I muttered sarcastically and tried to get rid of a bit of flesh in my hairs.
“I can’t believe it went this smoothly. Well, as I jumped down into the horde from a branch I was worried for a little, but thankfully everything worked out.” It … worked out? Maybe for them, but certainly not for the four dead people. I didn’t mind their death too much, but their life had more value than this. Truth to be told, this felt more like a colossal waste of human resources and nothing else.
“Where are your horses?” I asked, not really knowing wether I should be annoyed or angry. In the end, none of these emotions won. Disinterest reigned supreme.
“We lost them in the forest.” He admitted which made me look down on him a bit disappointed. The extension of the sword that was myself had already influenced him, otherwise he wouldn’t have jumped down into the demons. Not even Schwarz was that crazy. But it did look as if he only inherited my blood thirst and not my level headedness.
Every human loss we take isn’t replaceable and any utensils we loose in the demon territory are sharing the same fate. I hope you are aware.”
“I am? Look, Lucy. We have cleared out the forest like the citizens asked us to. And I’m a hero! I cannot stand back while others risk their lives.” A so called hero would have the tactical knowledge that being driven into the place where we concentrated our firepower was the worst idea ever.
“Get yourself a new horse. We are short on time.” I commanded dryly and waited for the other adventurers to shoulder their luggage once more so that we could march onwards to the one of the churches of love. I didn’t know why Luna chose this one in particular, but it was apparently on our way.
As we were just a few days away from the border, the nearby was rather small, meaning most of the adventurers had to sleep outside while we had the ability to meet inside a rather small room. Tapping my index finger onto the wooden table, I kept quiet for a long time.
“Why are we here? I’m tired.” Gregory asked annoyed by the waiting time.
“We are here because four adventurers died today.” I said and looked into each of the four idiots eyes sternly.
“Okay? So what?” Gregory asked, glaring at Louis because I didn’t look at him previously.
“Gregory?” Sofie asked exacerbated by his disregard for their life.
“What? They simply weren’t strong enough and besides, it’s not like their job isn’t to die for us.” Shaking my head in disappointment, I grabbed my forehead and wondered if I should get violent.
“They are dead because of your incompetence. If you all hadn’t appeared in the middle of our kill zone, we could have cleared them up sooner by using large area of effect spells. But no, we had to give up on that plan and rely on close combat.” On our part, everything went fine. We didn’t make any mistakes. We had trapped them, secured the front line and just had to blast them with spells. But because we couldn’t clear the demons out fast enough, we had to rely on risky close combat.
“It was … our fault?” Sofie asked, close to despairing about the fact I laid out.
“Not fully, but strategically this battle was a mess.” Hannah explained also a bit annoyed by them. “You were given orders to lure them out, not to engage in combat.” She said, quite angry even though she didn’t show much of it.
“But we …” Schwarz muttered, attempting to justify his actions.
“No but. You were given orders and any sane commander would either execute you on the spot or drag you into a court.” Hannah growled, clearly conscious that the animosity the other adventurers had for them grew steadily.
“Get a grip on yourself, Schwarz. And Gregory, you will sleep outside today along with Schwarz.” I demanded and stood up from my chair, not interested in putting up with their shit any longer for this day.
“What? I have done nothing wrong?” Gregory asked which made me inhale sharply. He didn’t do anything wrong regarding his actions, but he didn’t realise that his self centred sublimely attitude caused his own group to fall apart slowly.
“It’s time you learn to live with lowly citizens.” Hannah understood me very well and thus supported me immediately.
“I’m not doing that.” Gregory said and crossed his arms in front of his chest.
“It’s an order.” Hanna growled, red electricity crackling around her fingertips before she balled her hand into a fist and glared at the prince.
“Okay … no need to be so aggressive.” He said, slowly pushed his chair backwards and kept eye contact as he walked out of the room backwards. Disgruntled, Schwarz followed suit right away, Leaving Hannah and me alone with Ellie, Sofie and Louis.
“I … I’m sorry I couldn’t stop him. He … he just jumped for some reason.” Sofie admitted quietly, looking down onto the table with tears in her eyes. I usually would have comforted her during these times, but I was sure she wouldn’t like to be smeared in dried blood.
“It’s not your fault … none of this is.” I told her soothingly while I hoped a real challenge would bind them together. “You should sleep now. We have another harsh day in front of us.” I said while Ellie patted Sofie’s back in my place and stood up slowly.
“I … I can’t. I just … it’s too much.” She cried out helplessly while I balled my hands to fists. Seeing her like this hurt a lot, but there wasn’t much I could do about it. Death was part of such an endeavour, no matter how much she tried.
“Sofie … let me wash and then we can talk the whole night, alright?” I asked in worry. I didn’t want her struggles to escalate to the point where she wouldn’t be able to continue.
“Okay …” She mumbled, her eyes still dripping with tears.
“Isn’t it about time already?” I asked, the reigns of my horse tightly in my hands.
“Well, they did tell us to wait.” Luna admitted, scanning the horizon unfruitfully.
“It’s my brother … definitely.” The four idiots were running late … again. They had told us we should wait half an hour, and so we did exactly that. But even a full hour later, they weren’t back so far.
“Hannah?” I asked and didn’t even have to wait for a reply as her horse made a jump forwards and made its way to the forest in the distance. Before she could enter it though, she pulled one her reigns and turned around quickly. At first, I couldn’t spot any reason for her behaviour until a whole horde of demons from lizards to bulls ran behind her.
“Well, that certainly didn’t go as planned.” I muttered and drew my blade to point it at the enemy. “Earth mages! Show us what you are made off!” I shouted out loudly and witnessed how the most versatile magic class of all did its work. Flirty two mages put their hands onto the ground and all mumbled the same spell.
While Hannah made a quick turn for the right, the other demons still rushed towards us feverish.
“Halt it … halt it.” My horse trembled as the group beneath it shook violently. The demons were getting closer and closer until they were less than twenty metres away. The mages in the front line trembled a lot, but none of them fired off their spell, a testimony to our relentless training over the last days. “Now!” I shouted loudly and the close combatants around me roared loudly. The mages let the magic take its course and the feet beneath the horde of demons turned into mud, slowing them down if not completely incapacitating them.
The mages quickly retreated behind the warriors which closed their ranks and blocked off any demon which was unlucky enough to escape the obvious trap.
“Charge!” I shouted as the ground hardened and witnessed how our second line, consisting of the more nimble warriors dashed ahead, slicing at the stopped demons and tearing them apart in the process. Even more magics were activated, targeting the middle or end of the horde respectively.
I was finally on a small battlefield again. And yet, I was a mere figurine on it, not even allowed to take part in it. I could merely feel the death from afar, which was enough to make me thirsty for more, but not actually to sate my desires. Well, nothing would be.
“I can see them!” Luna said, pointing towards the forest which hundred of demons still coming out of it. And somewhere there was a group consisting of my for idiots, fighting in all that mess.
“What are they thinking …” I muttered, clearly not getting what they were thinking. I didn’t know if it was on purpose or not, but they let themselves be pushed further and further towards us by the never ending stream of demons , directly into the area where our magics hit.
“Cease fire! Tanks to the front! Protect the others! Mages! Focus on fighting visible targets!” Immediately I gave out new orders, probably saving the four idiots life in the process. Gripping onto my sword tightly, I how everything Hannah and I had planned crumbled in front of my eyes. And the price for that had to be paid in blood. Mere metres in front of me, a sturdy man was cut in half by a crab like demon. Immediately, a dangerous opening appeared in our defence which was thankfully quickly plucked by Hannah’s crackling electricity.
My horse got a lot more nervous at this point and Luna started to have problems with hers as well as something exploded right in front of the first line of defence. Gore splattered everywhere, large organs fell in bits all around us and for a second, it seemed as if it was raining blood all over us.
“That’s explosive blood!” Someone behind me shouted out a bit scared while I licked a bit off it of my fingertips. It was slimy and tasted absolutely disgusting.
“Cease your fire spells!” I shouted out immediately afterwards and watched how mages dumped the front line with water to clean them off the liquid. Distancing myself a little from them, I evaded their water magic completely and rather waited at the end of of our little army which slowly dealt with the demons. At last, it appeared that the four idiots had managed to get inside the formation as well, and Hannah ordered everyone to blast them with explosive magic once more.
“Is it … going alright?” Luna asked, patting the mane of her startled horse while I closed my eyes. No … it wasn’t going alright. This was admittedly one of the harder forests we cleared out with everyone avoiding it like the plague usually, but still. Four men had to die for … yeah, for what exactly? They certainly wouldn’t be hurt if the idiots had stuck to the plan.
Looking towards the ending battle, I squinted my eyes as Gregory walked right past us towards the cart filled with alcoholic beverages, Ellie ran towards Louis who was near the back line with the other mages and Schwarz ran towards me. Only Sofie made a sensible decision by staying behind and tending to the wounded.
These four were once again the issue. They always managed to do things their own way which was exactly not what any sensible person would like to see in an army.
“Forty six! I killed forty six demons!” Schwarz said and threw his arms into the air.
“Congratulations.” I muttered sarcastically and tried to get rid of a bit of flesh in my hairs.
“I can’t believe it went this smoothly. Well, as I jumped down into the horde from a branch I was worried for a little, but thankfully everything worked out.” It … worked out? Maybe for them, but certainly not for the four dead people. I didn’t mind their death too much, but their life had more value than this. Truth to be told, this felt more like a colossal waste of human resources and nothing else.
“Where are your horses?” I asked, not really knowing wether I should be annoyed or angry. In the end, none of these emotions won. Disinterest reigned supreme.
“We lost them in the forest.” He admitted which made me look down on him a bit disappointed. The extension of the sword that was myself had already influenced him, otherwise he wouldn’t have jumped down into the demons. Not even Schwarz was that crazy. But it did look as if he only inherited my blood thirst and not my level headedness.
Every human loss we take isn’t replaceable and any utensils we loose in the demon territory are sharing the same fate. I hope you are aware.”
“I am? Look, Lucy. We have cleared out the forest like the citizens asked us to. And I’m a hero! I cannot stand back while others risk their lives.” A so called hero would have the tactical knowledge that being driven into the place where we concentrated our firepower was the worst idea ever.
“Get yourself a new horse. We are short on time.” I commanded dryly and waited for the other adventurers to shoulder their luggage once more so that we could march onwards to the one of the churches of love. I didn’t know why Luna chose this one in particular, but it was apparently on our way.
As we were just a few days away from the border, the nearby was rather small, meaning most of the adventurers had to sleep outside while we had the ability to meet inside a rather small room. Tapping my index finger onto the wooden table, I kept quiet for a long time.
“Why are we here? I’m tired.” Gregory asked annoyed by the waiting time.
“We are here because four adventurers died today.” I said and looked into each of the four idiots eyes sternly.
“Okay? So what?” Gregory asked, glaring at Louis because I didn’t look at him previously.
“Gregory?” Sofie asked exacerbated by his disregard for their life.
“What? They simply weren’t strong enough and besides, it’s not like their job isn’t to die for us.” Shaking my head in disappointment, I grabbed my forehead and wondered if I should get violent.
“They are dead because of your incompetence. If you all hadn’t appeared in the middle of our kill zone, we could have cleared them up sooner by using large area of effect spells. But no, we had to give up on that plan and rely on close combat.” On our part, everything went fine. We didn’t make any mistakes. We had trapped them, secured the front line and just had to blast them with spells. But because we couldn’t clear the demons out fast enough, we had to rely on risky close combat.
“It was … our fault?” Sofie asked, close to despairing about the fact I laid out.
“Not fully, but strategically this battle was a mess.” Hannah explained also a bit annoyed by them. “You were given orders to lure them out, not to engage in combat.” She said, quite angry even though she didn’t show much of it.
“But we …” Schwarz muttered, attempting to justify his actions.
“No but. You were given orders and any sane commander would either execute you on the spot or drag you into a court.” Hannah growled, clearly conscious that the animosity the other adventurers had for them grew steadily.
“Get a grip on yourself, Schwarz. And Gregory, you will sleep outside today along with Schwarz.” I demanded and stood up from my chair, not interested in putting up with their shit any longer for this day.
“What? I have done nothing wrong?” Gregory asked which made me inhale sharply. He didn’t do anything wrong regarding his actions, but he didn’t realise that his self centred sublimely attitude caused his own group to fall apart slowly.
“It’s time you learn to live with lowly citizens.” Hannah understood me very well and thus supported me immediately.
“I’m not doing that.” Gregory said and crossed his arms in front of his chest.
“It’s an order.” Hanna growled, red electricity crackling around her fingertips before she balled her hand into a fist and glared at the prince.
“Okay … no need to be so aggressive.” He said, slowly pushed his chair backwards and kept eye contact as he walked out of the room backwards. Disgruntled, Schwarz followed suit right away, Leaving Hannah and me alone with Ellie, Sofie and Louis.
“I … I’m sorry I couldn’t stop him. He … he just jumped for some reason.” Sofie admitted quietly, looking down onto the table with tears in her eyes. I usually would have comforted her during these times, but I was sure she wouldn’t like to be smeared in dried blood.
“It’s not your fault … none of this is.” I told her soothingly while I hoped a real challenge would bind them together. “You should sleep now. We have another harsh day in front of us.” I said while Ellie patted Sofie’s back in my place and stood up slowly.
“I … I can’t. I just … it’s too much.” She cried out helplessly while I balled my hands to fists. Seeing her like this hurt a lot, but there wasn’t much I could do about it. Death was part of such an endeavour, no matter how much she tried.
“Sofie … let me wash and then we can talk the whole night, alright?” I asked in worry. I didn’t want her struggles to escalate to the point where she wouldn’t be able to continue.
“Okay …” She mumbled, her eyes still dripping with tears.
