Prologue
Soriah ran as hard as she could, the demon in front of her, attempting to escape. Any demon found inside Cael’than was killed. She followed it through the forest, avoiding trees as she tried to catch up. She knew she had to stop it from running, the demon could run much longer than she. The end of the forest was nearing, as well as the town on the other side. If the demon reached the town, innocent people would be hurt. This had to end now. She raised her Stat’se, a lightweight yet bulky blade made especially for fighting demons, given as a gift for becoming one of the Knights. Closing one eye and keeping as steady as possible, Soriah aimed the blade at the demon’s chest. She let go of the blade, and it went swirling through the air. Sword twirling towards it, the demon jumped out of the way, the sword instead hitting a tree and digging into the trunk.
The demon turned and leapt at Soriah, catching her by surprise. Soriah ducked, the demon missing her by an inch and soaring above her. She grabbed a dagger from her belt, short yet deadly. The demon didn’t wait for her to prepare however, and leapt back. She punched it in mid-air, knocking it to the side. It rolled away, and growled.
“Prepare to die, Knight.”
She dueled with the demon, stabbing with the dagger as it attempted to sink its claws into her neck. She maneuvered as well as she could, however her dress slowed her down. Moving faster than she was thinking, Soriah side-stepped to her right, avoiding the demon as it attempted to rake her face.
Soriah felt as if she were dancing with the demon. For quite some time, the fight went on, Soriah blocked the demons claws with her blade, and would counterstrike immediately, while the demon dodged and struck back. After almost half an hour, Soriah began to grow weary, and her attacks were slowing. The demon raised its arms, planning its next move. Its claws glistened in the moonlight, bloodthirsty and razor, itching to rip her to shreds. For a second she could see her reflection in them, and to her surprise she saw a beat, tired girl who looked as if she were running on her last shred of energy. If the fight lasted any longer, the demon would overpower her easily. She blocked another swing of the demon’s claws; however instead of striking with her blade, she kicked the demon in the gut, sending it flying back.
It leapt back at her with newfound anger and determination, however this time Soriah struck at it with her dagger, sinking it into its leg. The demon yelped in pain and fell to the ground, immobilized.
Soriah yanked her blade from the demons leg, causing blood to stream out. It sat back against the same tree her blade crashed into, breathing heavily, its leg in great pain.
A bead of sweat snaked down Soriah’s grimy arm. Her hand ached as she kept a tight grip on her scarlet-tinted blade, its tip resting on the demon’s neck. A drop of blood appeared where her blade penetrated the thick skin. The scarlet liquid flowed down, off its neck and onto its shoulders.
“You put up a good fight” said Soriah, “but it’s over now. In the end, you never had a chance, demon.”
Soriah pulled out her blade from the trunk with her free hand, using the first to pin the demon down.
“My death will do you no good! There are more of us, and you can’t kill us all! Cael’than will fall!” hissed the demon as Soriah’s blade left a deep gash in the demon’s chest. It was a clean hit that penetrated the thick skin and avoided the rib cage.
Its eyes widened, and Soriah could nearly feel the life being drained from its soul. Or whatever it was that demons had. It opened its mouth to speak, but instead came a gurgling noise, and its lifeless corpse crashed to the ground. Soriah confirmed its death, and then checked her injuries, a few scratch marks here and there. She then turned and left, just as the sun appeared over the horizon.
. . .
Soriah walked to the small, nearby waterfall and sunk her blades in the water. She watched the water pour down her swords, casting off her reflection in the sunlight. She looked at her black, curly hair, her deep, charcoal eyes, her rosy, curved lips, and her pale skin. Some would say she was beautiful, if not for the layer of grime and blood she always carries with her.
Pouring her blades into the water, she listened to the sound of the waterfall. The waterfall was the one place Soriah could find peace of mind. The sound of the water crashing into the lake below engulfed all of her burdens, put her at ease. Looking up, she saw the water rushing off the plateau above, the sunlight being cast off. As small as the pond was, it was full of life. Fish, frogs, and birds surrounded Soriah. A small rainbow was barely visible above the plateau. The waterfall was Soriah’s personal piece of beauty.
“Soriah!” cried a familiar voice.
Soriah turned to find Clay running towards her. Clay was one of Sylvana’s best friends. He was a fellow Knight, so he understood her burdens like no one else could. He walked up and took a seat next to her on the mossy rock.
“You know, most women I know spend their time cleaning, cooking, and tailoring. You, however, choose to wash demon blood off your blades using your bare hands.”
A smile appeared on Soriah’s face. She wasn’t like other women, but she was proud. Proud she was her own person, not someone’s housemaid. She may not be the strongest Knight, but she is doing something more important than tending to a house all day. Perhaps that is why she still wasn’t married. Not many women Soriah’s age were still unmarried.
“So, what’s up? You’ve been gone all day.”
He looked down at her with his light brown eyes, and a light smile.
“Sorry, I was attacked by a demon.”h
“You just got back now? It must have been a powerful demon.”
“No, I just needed to sit by the pond a moment…”
“Great, you’re doing it again.”
“Wha--?”
“Every time you can’t kill a demon with incredible ease, you tell yourself you don’t deserve to be a Knight! You’ve killed dozens of demons before! If you stopped moping and started training, you’ll kill many more.”
Soriah sighed; sometimes she felt Clay knew her too well.
“Fine then, lets train,” Soriah said with a grin, and tossed Clay one of her blades.
Clay grinned, “Now we’re talking.”
Soriah rushed at him, blade in hand. She was about a meter ahead of him when she saw him enter a defensive stance. With a smirk, she faked a side slash, spun around him, and swung her blade towards his back. Her blade was about to hit his back, when Clay spun around and parried her attack, all in one smooth motion, he pushed forward with his blade, knocking Soriah back a few steps, and pointed his blade to her chest.
“Dead,” Clay said with a proud grin.
“Not quite,” Soriah said with a bigger grin.
Soriah closed her eyes and chanted a spell. The Knights were not simply warriors with exceptional sword skills, they were taught to use magic. At first they are taught simple spells, moving objects, conjuring water, however once a Knight reached a certain level of expertise, they could choose one element, and use it for combat spells. One could choose from Nature, Water, Fire, Air, and Arcane.
Letting the magic course through her, she shook the ground around Clay, and split it in half, catching him by surprise. As he stumbled backwards and tried to balance himself, Soriahran forward, and placed the tip of her blade on the left side of his chest.
“Dead.”
“Well I don’t see how a dead woman could cast a spell, but great job; you’ve defeated the might, handsome Clay!”
“Yes well the mighty and handsome Clay made me late for magic class. I’m going to grab my stuff and head over to the castle.”
Clay turned and headed back to the town. Soriah watched him go, his brown hair flying in the wind, his hand stained in blood too dark to be human.
. . .
Clay headed through the forest and headed towards the town. He tried to come up with excuses to tell Jaina along the way. This was not the first time Soriah missed her magic class, and Jaina was getting tired of excuses.
Clay could hear the town before he saw it. Crowds of merchants and customers swarmed the market place, yelling and grabbing everything they could see before it was gone. The houses rose up from atop the hill, and in the distance, the Knights’ castle. He passed through the market place, filled with stands of tea, weapons, and food. To his sides passed cottages, all identical, made of stone all around. The castle was the only home in the town that was unique. It was made of a rare, black stone, shining in the light. The balconies on the sides looked over the town, with turrets on the sides, should the town be attacked. The huge drawbridge rose up in front of him, made of wood and steel, however it had no lever. Only a Knight could enter, using magic. He raised his hand and chanted a spell, and the drawbridge came crashing down in front of him, allowing passage inside.
“There you are, Clay!”
Clay looked up at the balcony above him, and saw Jaina hanging on the rail. Her silver hair fell down over her shoulders, and her pale grey eyes shone brightly. She looked serious and a tiny bit angry, which was to be expected, since he returned alone.
“Where is Soriah She’s late again.”
“She’s back at the pond, washing her blades.”
“Great, another lesson missed. How is she ever going to master an element if she misses almost every planned lesson? Most of my students are always nagging at me for extra lessons so they can choose their element early. Soriah, however, couldn’t care less.”
Clay heard hurried footsteps from close by, and turned to find Soriah running towards the castle, swords hanging at her belt.
“Sorry I’m late Jaina. I’m ready for my lesson now.”
“Whatever, just head over to the practice room and let’s get started already. We don’t have much time, but if we hurry, we can get a simple spell done. Geez Soriah I’d think you would be excited and try to work your way up to your element.”
“I’ll be right up…” Soriah sighed.
. . .
Soriah raised her arm, and focused on her target. She tapped into her mana, the source of magic. The magic coursed through her, and Soriah could feel it running wildly through her body. Using all of her strength, she attempted to control, bend it to her will.
“Focus, Soriah! If you can’t cast a simple ember spell, how will you be able to master an element?”
As hard as it was, Soriah focused her magic into her wrist, and prepared to use it for a spell. Just then, she felt a jolt of pain from the inside of her gut. Her mana was running low. She quickly released the magic before it was too late.
A thin, red flame appeared above her palm. It was a small flaming sphere, glowing red-hot, small flickers of flame shooting in every direction. Flicking her wrist, the flame shot through the air, expanding as it went until it grew twice in size, small snakes of flame coming out of it, and hit the dummy, leaving a scorched hole in the dummy’s chest.
At first, no one said a word. Soriah and Jaina simply stared at the scorched hole in the dummy’s chest. The singed edges of the hole gave out a bright orange glow, slowly spreading outwards. Soriah simply stood there, proud of her achievement.
“Very good, Soriah,” Jaina said at last. Soriah thought the comment had an impressed ring to it, although Jaina’s face was straight.
Soriah herself was surprised by the results of her spell. She rarely managed to create more than a spark. Fire was not her stronger element. Using the element of Fire required more control, lest the flames go loose and burn the whole room to the ground. She always preferred Water and Air. They did not require to be controlled, to be focused into a perfect beam so that they do not destroy the caster’s surroundings. Water could rush down in a stream, be used with more force for bigger impact, or, if one was more talented in the element of Water, turned to ice and used as a weapon. None of these spells required as much control as a simple Fire spell though. Wind could be a simple breeze, a gust of wind, or a wave of air so thin it’s sharper than a blade. No matter what Wind spell is used, however, it is as free as a bird.
“Now, try firing an arcane blast before the lesson is over.”
With a sigh, she tapped into her mana and gathered it in her hand. Arcane was almost as hard to use as Fire.
Chapter 1
Soriah pulled her blade out of the chest of the demon laying before her. The fight had wounded her, but she could not show weakness at a time like this. She looked around, and took in the fight. There were many casualties on both sides, but the demons had more numbers than the Knights. One Knight could hold off several demons, but they never seemed to stop pouring in. She began to lose hope.
She tried to find Clay, to see how he was holding off. At first she couldn’t find him and thought the worst, but then she saw him finish off a foe what looked like 100 meters away. She sighed in relief and focused back to her surroundings. She spotted a lone demon, facing the other way, planning on attacking another Knight, completely oblivious to her. She was about to attack it, but halfway there she heard a deafening roar.
The ground began to shake, and she heard a sound coming from under them. It was a sound she had never heard before, and it was both fierce and terrifying. She could barely move, and fell to her knees, closing her ears as tight as she could. The roar sounded like death itself had begun to scream, and it was in pain.
For a second, the sound started to fade, and Soriah thought it was over. She got back on her feet, confused like the hundreds of Knights and demons on the battlefield. She turned to see how the other Knights were doing, in case the demons were using this sound as a distraction. But as she turned her head, the ground itself erupted with a colossal roar. Huge chunks of land were flying in the air, leaving fissures in the ground. The ground continued to blow itself apart, unfortunate Knights and demons falling into the fissures, falling in what looked like an endless abyss.
Suddenly, out of the fissures, what looked like the elements themselves came rushing through the fissures. Giant pillars of fires, geysers, blasts of air, and boulders so huge they appeared to be golems. They all rose and rose, until they were in the sky, above the ground, where they were invisible to the people below. Suddenly, there was a blinding light, a blazing burst of illumination that burned Soriah’s skin.
She shielded her eyes until the light went away. When it was done, she looked up in the sky and at first saw nothing.
. . .
“Wake up Soriah! Wake up!”
Soriah slowly opened her weary eyes to jumping Clay. Only he wasn’t jumping, she was being shook. Clay’s hands continuously shoved her back and forth frantically. She looked out the window to see what time it was, and was angered when she saw only a dim light under the horizon.
“For your own sake, Clay, this had better be good.”
Clay had made her mad before, but she was actually awake back then. This time she actually felt like tying him up and leaving him in the forest for the demons.
“Inken’s sick, and Paleia wants us to take his patrol shift.” Clay replied with a light smile.
Soriah sighed and got out of bed. Inken, the only Knight newer than Soriah, was given the worst patrol time. He was inducted a mere week ago; however he was still strong, becoming a Knight is a rare honor. Unfortunately for him, the package included waking before the sun did to watch over the outskirts of Cael’than, the town in which the Knights’ castle was built. And to add to the excitement, a demon has never been spotted at that time, as they were returning to their coves after a night of terror. Now Paleia, head of the Knights, is giving Soriah the shift. Soriah was bursting with excitement.
“She wants you to come as well? It’s a novice’s job.” Soriah asked.
“She’s only sending you, but dragging Inken to the infirmary woke me up, so going back to bed’s not an option.” Clay sighed.
“And if you’re needed?”
“The sun isn’t even up yet, the demons are returning to their homes, and half the castle is still asleep, I doubt I’ll be summoned during the two hour shift.”
Clay’s easy-going attitude will be the death of him some day. If not, then the Knights’ death.
“Let me change into my armor. Meet me outside the castle in a few minutes.”
. . .
Soriah walked through the forest right outside Cael’than. There were roots and holes everywhere, but that wasn’t Soriah’s first time there. She knew the forest like the back of her hand. The bright green leaves, the huge, bulky trunks, the dew falling on her head, the critters running around, and the vines curling up trees. It was almost like a painting, like it wasn’t real.
“Clay, can I ask you a stupid question?”
She looked up at him, the sunlight bouncing off his outline, making him look almost angelic.
“Go ahead,” Clay said, with his usual light, friendly smile.
“Well I’ve been so busy training, taking patrols, and trying to cast an actual spell, I’ve never had time to wonder, why do the demons want to attack Cael’than so bad?”
Clay suddenly grew serious, which was very rare.
“The demons have been trying to steal the Orb. No one knows why, we think they want to use it for their own power-hungry needs.”
The Orb was the most powerful artifact in existence. It contained incredible magical abilities, which only the most skilled warriors could use. The Orb was said to be made of solidified magic, an art that has been long forgotten. The Orb was powerful enough to do practically anything, and in the wrong hands the world could be brought to a devastating, cataclysmic end. It was safely guarded within the castle, hidden behind layers of guards and vaults, keeping it isolated from the rest of the world. Very few people knew about the Orb, namely Knights and close allies.
“Oh.”
Suddenly, a ruffling sound came from a nearby bush, and Soriah saw a dark figure moving out of the corner of her eye.
“Clay!”
“I know.”
“What was that!?”
“I barely saw it, but it looked like a demon.”
Soriah decided to find out rather than wait. She cautiously unsheathed her blade and slowly walked to the source of the sound. A meter away from the bush, she slashed at it with her blade. Only instead of a screech, Soriah heard metal clang metal.
“Move, Soriah!”
By the time she figured out what he meant, it was too late. A demon lay atop her, pinning her to the ground. Its jagged, red tinted teeth smiled at her. Its eyes, a black abyss, stared at her. Sunlight was shining off the dagger in its hand, pointed at Soriah.
The creature did not look like a regular demon. It was not as muscular as others, and its body looked more like one of a human. Unlike the rags Soriah was used to look at this creature was bearing what looked like a ceremonial gown, with beads and charms around its neck.
Soriah tapped into her mana, and blew out a gust of wind from her mouth, a weak spell but enough to push the demon off of her. She rolled to the side where her blade was, and charged at the demon. Sword over her head, she slashed down at it, only for the demon to parry her attack and punch her aside. Clay continuously shot arrows at it, but the demon somehow dodged every arrow thrown its way.
“I am not a demon, and you cannot kill me, so stop attacking!” it hissed. “When you two are done stumbling around with your weapons, I have a message. I am a half-demon, the cause of a demon attacking my human mother. There are few of us, but we exist.”
Clay and Soriah stared at the creature in shock. As hard as it was to believe, a normal demon who overpowered them would have ripped them to shreds.
“Whether or not you choose to believe me, I have been sent here to warn you. I am a soothsayer, a fortune teller. I have seen the future, and I saw an…unexpected…event. I cannot tell you the future without destroying the threads of time, but remember this; the enemy of my enemy is my friend. You play a big role in the future; otherwise I would not risk talking to a Knight. I must leave now, but remember what I told you.”
In a blink of an eye, the half-demon had jumped to a low branch in a tree and was jumping from tree to tree deep into the forest.
“What just happened?” Soriah asked after a few minutes of shock.
“The demons tried to trick us. Forget it. Our shift is over anyways, let’s head home.”
Just what was that thing? It definitely wasn’t a normal demon, what if it was telling the truth? What if the fates of hundreds of lives are in my hands, and I am turning away, refusing to believe it is true? And why me? Why a novice?
Soriah decided she was overthinking things and returned home with Clay, uneasy. She couldn’t shake off a strange feeling, a feeling that bad things were on their way.
. . .
Paleia was going through the papers of reports and casualties in her main office at dawn. Her job not only was to lead the Knights but to keep track of who and what they have to their disposal. Three dead, five injured, and one was a blacksmith.
“Inken’s sick, and it’s his shift in 20 minutes.” He said immediately.
Sighing, Paleia considered who to send, and said, “Send Soriah to take his shift.”
“May I come with her?”
“It’s a novice’s job; she can handle it on her own. I’ve got a lot of reports to go through, so you’re dismissed.”
“So what if it’s a novice’s job? What could you possibly want me to do at dawn? I’m always asleep at this time anyways!”
Paleia cleared her throat and repeated, “You are dismissed.”
Knowing Clay would protest and waste her time, she had a guard show him out. She had learned the hard way Clay does not take no for an answer. And it involved several hours of her busy time. Looking back down, she continued to archive the reports in front of her.
. . .
Paleia looked down at her desk, to find that she had gone through every document at last. She was about to get up and leave, when she saw a sliver of red ribbon out of the corner of her eye. She looked under her desk to find a letter sent to the Knights. Curiously she opened the letter, whose ribbon had symbols she had never seen before.
I have already warned your Knights if this message has appeared in your castle. Summon them immediately and hear what they have to say. They are the key to the survival of the Knights. A terrible future is upon you, and they are the only ones who can fix it. I have created a prophecy, but this must never be told to your Knights or the fabric of time will change and the future could be altered.
The day two bloods are shed,
Earth itself will shatter.
From below will come your doom,
Whom to your weapons is nigh-immune.
You will fight, to no prevail
Fight for your lives with all your might
Awaiting a hero to arise.
A hero who protects not only allies,
But the weapon you hold dearest.
And a new era will begin,
As your allies die and are reborn.
