My eyes shot open to the sounds of soldiers arguing. I attempted to shake away the strange feeling of emptiness in my chest. Aurielle and I had been together for so long now, not having her here felt wrong, like a part of myself was missing.

The first time this happened I was excited, but back then we had been safe inside the free cities. Now, we were surrounded by blood mist. Life-threatening danger could appear at any moment. Aurielle was always so confident, even when facing death. Without her… What was I supposed to do?

I took a few deep breaths in hopes of calming the terror of facing everything alone.

“I can do this,” I said softly, “I still have all her memories. I know everything she knows. I can do this.”

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes as I looked around curiously. The arguing had gotten louder now. The soldier, Ferenc, was shouting at Orias with nearly twenty soldiers at his back.

“We are done following you! This mission is suicide! Your plan will do nothing but get us all killed. We are Avari elites, not some expendable commoners to be discarded at will.”

Orias growled with a dangerous glint in his eye, “You intend to abandon the mission?”

“We have decided to return and gather reinforcements,” Ferenc said without backing down, “I am not sacrificing my life for this nonsense.”

“You know as well as I that a normal army cannot enter the mist. There are not enough people capable of using glyphs to protect an entire army from the corruption. That is why we formed a small elite unit. If you do this, there is no turning back.”

“So be it! The soldiers are probably dead anyway. What is the point in sacrificing our lives as well?”

I walked over to my mom while the two men argued. My legs still shook slightly, but most of the pain had faded. The flames had more or less finished healing my body before Aurielle fell asleep.

“Mom, what… what is going on?” I asked.

“Orias wanted to split off a portion of the soldiers to act as a distraction while we escorted the civilians out of the city,” she replied with a sigh, “Naturally, that suggestion did not go over well. Now we… Wren, your eyes!”

I nodded, crossing my arms across my chest. “Surviving the snake’s attack was… difficult. Aurielle had to go to sleep again.”

“Now? but…” My mom faltered as she tried to find the right words.

My dad and Charly also reacted in surprise. Donte was just confused. He had been unconscious the first time this happened and did not understand.

“What does that mean?” he asked.

I pointed at my head as I spoke, “It means it is just me for a while. I don’t know for how long it will last this time either, a few days at least.”

My dad hesitated for a moment before speaking. “I am happy that we get just you for a while, this timing is… not the best.”

“I know,” I said taking a deep breath, “Aurielle is the soldier, not me, but I will not drag you down. I can be just as strong as her!”

My dad ruffled my hair with a smile. “I never doubted that. We will get through this together, even without her.”

I smiled brightly and wanted to hug him when the nearby argument drew my attention again as it grew even more heated. Orias had used his innate talent and grew giant, while Ferenc’s sword ignited in bright flames.

Ferenc shouted as he pointed his sword at Orias, “You might be stronger than any one of us, but injured like this you cannot take on all of us. I am leaving. You cannot stop me!”

Orias glared at the man, and for a moment I thought he would attack, but in the end, he relented. With a defeated sigh, he shrunk back down to normal size. “Then go, but know that if I make it back alive, I will have all of you court marshaled.”

“You really think you are going to survive?” Ferenc said, shaking his head, “You are already infected. Even if you make it out of the city with the civilians, you will never be able to get them all to safety. This cursed mist will kill everyone.”

Ferenc sheathed his sword as he turned to leave. Over twenty soldiers followed him out of the courtyard.

With a thud, Orias sat on the ground. His shoulders slumped as he stared at the dirt. “Anyone else who wants to leave, you should go now. I will not hold it against you. This mission is more dangerous than any of us expected. Regardless of your choice, I will be staying. Even if I am alone, I will not abandon those people.”

One of the remaining soldiers stepped forward with a salute. “Sir, you saved my life when that monstrosity attacked. You were infected by the mist saving me. I will not abandon you now.”

Another soldier stepped forward and saluted. “I thought I was done for when the ceiling of that castle collapsed, but you were there to pull me free, and even carried me to safety. My life is yours. I will follow you to the end.”

One by one, the remaining soldiers saluted. A warm smile spread across Orias’s face. He stood up, straitening his shoulders, and addressed the men with a booming voice. “You men are the true elites of the Avari. No matter what happens here today, you are all worthy of being called heroes.”

Orias then barked out a few orders, preparing the men to move out. He then turned and walked over towards us. His eyes lingered on my mom before he turned to my dad.

“What about you? I would not blame you if you wanted to get your family out of here.”

My dad raised an eyebrow at Orias. “You think I do not know that you incited those men on purpose? After all the years we served together you think I would miss it? Those deserters are the distraction. I am guessing one of your men put a sound glyph on them when reapplying their protections. In an hour or so it will go off attracting all the snakes to them.”

Orias let out a bellowing laugh. “You really know me too well Renald. I did not expect so many of them to defect, but I would rather have a few loyal heroes than thousands of disobedient dogs.”

“But… they were your soldiers…” Charly said softly.

Orias Chuckled. “Never trust a commanding officer kid. They will never hesitate to throw you over a cliff for their own advancement. The true soldiers, the heroes, they are the ones that fight on the front lines. The ones that sit at the back shouting orders are nothing more than politicians.”

My mom lowered her eyes and spoke softly, “And which have you become Orias?”

Orias shook his head. “I lost the right to be a hero a long, long time ago. Nothing will change that.”

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

We moved past the broken remains of the once-grand statue. In the distance, I could see the colossal snake laying limply on its side. The small rise of its chest when it breathed was the only indicator it was still alive.

We approached the courtyard, as quiet as fifty soldiers in heavy armor could be. Closer now, I could see the countless number of people inside. Men and women, young and elderly, all suffering from the corruption of the mist.

I knew it hurt, being corrupted like that. I could remember, Aurielle fell to it once when she was fighting, surrounded by enemies. She had to kill herself and be reborn so that she would not become a Demon. The agony she felt as the corruption poisoned her veins is something I would not wish on my worst enemy.

Slumped up against the gate was the old man who warned us of the snake before. He looked at us with his eyes wide.

“You- You survived that monster!” he exclaimed loudly.

Orias nodded. “We are here to get you out. Open the gate and gather everyone up.”

The old man’s body shook uncontrollably as he wrapped his arms across his chest. “We cannot leave. If we leave the courtyard the snakes will attack us.”

“They only attack when you try to leave?”

The old man nodded. “That woman… She led the monsters… commanded them. She said that if we were obedient, we would live. A few tried to escape, but they were all eaten. Nobody even made it halfway to the gate.”

“A woman was leading the Demonkin?” Orias asked in disbelief.

“Yes, but she was not like any woman you have ever seen. She had bright, red eyes, and her feet were talons like a bird. Her teeth were sharp fangs and each of her fingers had long claws capable of tearing a man in half. She was a monster.”

I grabbed onto my dad’s arm for support, hiding my face in his shirt. All of Aurielle’s worst fears were confirmed. A demon had been born, and it was on the move.

Orias looked around, his eyes shining with a dangerous glint. “Where is the woman now?”

“She left, chasing after the Avari soldiers. Took the monsters with her, but left the snake to guard us.”

“Avari soldiers were here? Where are they now? Where did they go?”

The old man shook his head. “I do not know. When the mist came and the monsters attacked, they fled… left us here. All I know is that they were going west.”

“West…” Orias said, thinking silently. “Thank you for telling me. Now, open the gate. I have a plan to distract the snakes. While they are distracted everyone needs to run.”

“You are better off leaving us,” the old man said with a cough, “This mist… It is poisoning us. Half of us can barely walk. The other half are so hungry and weak, there is no hope of making a long journey.”

“We are not abandoning anyone,” Orias growled as he activated his innate talent, “Open the gate.”

There was a glimmer of hope in the old man’s eye as he looked up at Orias’s giant form. He relented to his determination and quickly gathered the most able-bodied of the people and hoisted the large metal gate open.

The soldiers quickly moved according to the commands Orias had given beforehand. They moved through the civilians, inspiring hope and gathering them into five separate groups. Each group consisted of hundreds of civilians and only had ten soldiers to protect them, but hopefully, there would be very little fighting when we made our escape.

In the distance, I heard the sound of a fog horn echo through the city. It was loud enough to shake the ground under my feet. The hiss of thousands of snakes answered the booming horn.

Outside the gate, millions of squirming snakes slithered towards the source of the noise. Orias’s distraction had worked. I imagined Ferenc and his soldiers were probably panicking now as they fled the endless swarm of serpents.

Orias shouted with a booming voice, “That’s our cue people. Everyone, run!”

Curious, I looked towards the massive mother snake. It must have heard the noise as well, but it did not move. It still lay on its side lifelessly. There was nothing we could do but pray it did not decide to act while we were escaping.