askets of meats and fruits along with bottles of multicolored drinks littered the ground in front of Adam, offerings and tributes from the hundreds of demons that came to leave them at the door of his disproportionally massive hut.
“They just brought another four baskets, remind me again why we are still here. We have things to do, remember, the quest? The mist city?” Adam peered through the open slit in the fabric, a door to his hut, and a window to the ritualistic madness going on outside.
“Well, you are… god to demons of this area, and now that they’ve found out, you’ll be treated like one.” Shiira replied nervously, fearing the possibility of Adam losing his temper, even though he only seemed mildly annoyed at the time.
“Why didn’t you let us leave then? They dragged us here and stuck us in a tent for no reason, we’re wasting time when we finally got a solid destination.”
Before Shiira could reply, two demons entered the tent, their eyes lowered in devotion and reverence. Adam watched with a grimace on his face as the two got on their knees and prostrated themselves.
“These elders are humbled to be in the presence of a great one.” They said in unison, with their heads still firmly planted on the ground. “have the tributes not been to your liking?”
A shiver ran down Adam’s spine, he felt embarrassed for the demons as they felt reverence for him. Worshipping at the feet of one such as himself, a soldier of an army dedicated to exterminating them with prejudice.
He glanced back at Shiira, the look on his face telling her of his confusion more than any words could, but she could only offer silence and a shrug in response.
“I don’t have much use for food, especially not a metric fuck ton of it. Information on the other hand, well that’s something I’d appreciate.”
The two demons continued groveling, showing no sign of moving to a more appropriate position, even when replying to him. “As you will, great one, what information do you need?”
“let’s start with the mist city, tell me everything you know, and uh… raise your head.”
The two demons refused to look up, even when asked by Adam himself, choosing to remain in a groveled position to his confusion.
“Didn’t you hear me? Heads up, c’mon.”
Adam looked back to Shiira when they didn’t budge still, but she was just as confused as he was.
“Are you both deaf or what? C’mon, stand up and let’s get to it.” His words held a hint of anger this time, but the two elders raised their heads before it could escalate any further.
“I apologize great one. It is written that we must keep our heads lowed trice before we respond to the calls of a great one.” The two demons lived up to their titles as elders, their faces were wrinkled and dry and their horns cracked and withered. Theirs were the faces of the wise, but their eyes were those of the extremely devoted.
“Written? What does that mean?”
The two elders shared an excited look before one of them pulled out a thick, leather-bound book and handed it to Adam. It was old, its pages so brittle that the slightest tug would cause them to crumble. He grabbed it and swept his hand across the book’s rough surface, reading the words etched into the leather out loud.
“0158 D.O.B, the hell does that stand for?” he slowly opened the ancient yet surprisingly clean book, and his eyes opened wide in surprise and confusion.
“We do not know, it is not our place to ask such a question.” One of the elders responded and quickly dropped back into silence, leaving the floor open to his female companion. “the holy book was given to our predecessors, it was a parting gift and a blessing left by the great ones before they ascended beyond the veil. Many copies were made over the years but this is the original.”
A few jokes ran through Adam’s mind, but even though mocking the zealots was his first instinct, something was bugging him. It was a long shot, but he still couldn’t ignore the possibility that humanity managed to outrun their extinction to the only place untouched by the demonic disease. “ascended? What do you mean by that?”
The female elder reached her hand forward, taking the book back from Adam. “upon the Astraeus, mankind headed for their destiny, becoming one with the cosmos. Have we not fed you, sheltered you from the cold, and cleansed you from all that ailed you? Now we must head for the heavens and those who follow our testaments will too join us in eternity.” She read a passage from the book, and as she uttered the words, the other elder joined his hands together and mumbled alongside with his eyes closed.
Adam was left confused, his face contorted to an expression he rarely wore. It was a bizarre experience, hearing the passages of a holy book where he was the god, not the worshiper, but that wasn’t the only thing that stood out.
“Astraeus… I remember that name, it was a project proposed during the early days of the war, but it went nowhere. No damn way, they managed to actually do it?” Shiira, who was listening closely up until now, clearly had her interest peaked by the sudden declaration. To her, Adam was a time traveler who walked the same battlefields her people thought to be the stuff of legends, thus whatever surprised him was bound to be interesting.
“What was it?” She asked instantly, her curiosity at an all-time high.
“Project Astraeus was proposed before the augment system was even thought of, at least that’s what I heard. Back then the scientific branch of the united military focused on ways to escape demons rather than fight them, and of course space was the most obvious answer.” No one made a sound as Adam told his story, too enamored with the lost knowledge he so casually bestowed on them.
“The idea was to build a massive ship, big enough to house tens of thousands of humans and transport them to another planet. The ship itself would be turned into an enclosed colony after landing, keeping humanity alive while the scientists on board work on a more permanent solution. Of course, it never came to be, the cost and time it would take to construct s ship of that scale was just too much, not to mention that the technology needed to make it work was experimental at best back then. Regardless, the first generation of augment chips was made soon after, and so Project Astraeus was forgotten.”
Silence engulfed the hut for a second before Shiira raised her hand like a child requesting permission to speak before actually doing so. “what is a planet?”
“I wish to know what that is as well, great one.” “This humble servant shares in this request.” The two elders chimed in as well, the trilogy of stupid questions causing Adam to clutch his head tightly as he felt a headache coming on.
“just… forget about it, actually, let’s take this from the top, who the hell are you two? And what are you doing here?” Adam brushed off their questions, too lazy and uncaring to actually answer them in full.
“I am Zaheer, and she is Yen. We serve the great ones and represent the town of Horta and all traders that do their business here. Naturally, we wanted to verify the appearance of a great one in our little town.”
“I see… well maybe you could help me, I’m making my way into the mist city so I’ll need any information you have about the city itself or the monsters that call it home.” Adam, seeing an opportunity to extract information, instantly started interrogating the elders.
“It was written that when the first of the great ones arrived here, they built the city close to the villages on purpose. In their wisdom and generosity, they invited the sick to be treated in the city, and thousands were saved as a result, but that wasn’t the only boon they bestowed upon our ancestors.” Zaheer spoke his piece and allowed his female compatriot to take over, citing her superior knowledge of the olden times to be superior to his own.
“As the city grew, more and more blessings were given to us. When food was scarce, the great ones kept us all fed, when our homes were raided by the bands of criminals that ran wild after the war, the great ones protected us, and so naturally, when the great ones offered to give us their mark, we agreed.” The old demon pointed to her four horns, as worn and cracked as they were, she was clearly still very proud of them. “our forefathers went to the city but only the worthy came back with mark, stronger and with more magic than ever, it was the only reason they lived through the red harvest.”
Adam leaned back and rested his aching head on his hand, trying to make sense of what he was just told, but no matter how much he tried to adjust his thinking, he couldn’t make himself believe that the human government or whoever was in charge after the end of the war would allow for such a thing to happen.
Resources were already running dry when he volunteered for the Phoenix project, he knew that very well, for he lost more than one or two soldiers to faulty old weapons and armor or lack of ammo. He could only imagine the state of things post-war, with billions dead and most of the planet rendered nearly uninhabitable due to the adverse effects of forbidden magic and nuclear weapons. There couldn’t have been enough resources to justify helping a few random demon towns, at least not without a catch.
As confusing and nonsensical as it was, Adam did not have the luxury of time to try and solve a 500-year-old mystery. There were three demons that shouldn’t even exist probably taking refuge in the city, and more importantly, they had information about humanity, information he desperately wanted.
“Whatever, I’ll figure it out when I get in. Now tell me about the mist, when it appeared and why is it so dangerous. Also, the so-called monsters, has anyone actually seen them firsthand leaving or entering the city?” Adam bombarded the elders with questions, but they only bowed and replied without looking him in the eye in return.
“Ten years ago, the four villages that sat closest to the city were destroyed over the span of a few days. No one ever saw the assailants but we know that who, or whatever they were, they made sure to leave no survivors. The mist appeared soon after the destruction of the fourth village, hiding the city from our view.” Zaheer looked down, his eyes a reflection of his sorrowful, pained soul.
“We naturally reported the attacks and the sudden appearance of the mist to the capital, but it was years before they took interest and sent the first wave of soldiers to try passing through the mist. I was their guide actually, all those soldiers… I was there when their screams sounded from beyond the mist.” Yen finished the unfortunate tale Zaheer started only to quickly start telling another one. “After a few more teams tried, and failed, we received a message from the capital ordering us to simply leave the mist city alone, not to even set foot anywhere near it, and we did so for many years until the attacks started not too long ago.”
Zaheer handed Adam a piece of paper, crumbled and covered with deep red stains. Opening it revealed the same description of the monsters he was shown by Onvyr in the capital not too long ago, only this one was written in barely legible words.
“I’ve read this before, a description of the monsters that keep attacking you, but I assume this one is the original? So, whoever wrote it saw them firsthand, can you bring him here? I’d like to take to however it is.”
With heavy eyes and a shaking voice, Zaheer responded, tears dripping down his eyes as he spoke. “I’m afraid not, it was my grandchild who saw the monsters, he was only a boy yet he bravely held on to life even though he was gravely injured. With his last breath, he wrote of their appearance and of how they came through the mist.” To Adam’s surprise and confusion, the elder prostrated himself in front of him, bitter tears running down his face. “I did not know why that child died, I began to lose my faith in the great ones, but now I see the truth. His death had meaning, he was a messenger, leading the last of the great ones, the only one to not leave us, here to help us in our time of need. I beg of you great one, help us, we have devoted ourselves to you for many years, please do not forsake us like the others.”
Adam was bewildered. He looked back to Shiira, only to find her wearing a miserable expression as well. He felt pity for the old demon, a feeling that was very rare for him to have. The one prostrating at his feet was nothing like the demons he fought during his time, he was not a vicious, powerful monster that could raze whole cities to the ground, but just someone mourning the loss of his family, a sight Adam was unfortunately very familiar with.
He knew that he was no god and that the truth of his reason for coming and humanity as a whole was much different and less fantastical, but he couldn’t bring himself to break the elder’s whole world by telling him the cold, hard truth. Adam and his soldiers butchered hundreds of thousands of demons, they were no saints, much less gods to them, and those who did act as such years after the war ended did not do it out of goodwill, but telling him that would accomplish nothing but break those who believe the beautiful lie.
“… yes, I’m heading into the city to exterminate the monsters, and if it wasn’t for your grandchild’s description I wouldn’t be here, but it's late so I’ll spend the night here and start moving in the morning…. Leave me for now, I’d like to get some rest.”
The elder let out a heavy breath as if the weight of the world was lifted off his shoulders. He praised and thanked Adam repeatedly before he was dragged out by Yen who shared in some of his expressions of gratitude and happiness.
“That was kind of you.” Shiira finally spoke, the satisfied smile drawn on her face irritating Adam to no end.
Adam simply brushed her off and rested on the soft bed prepared for him. He asked himself many questions, some about the revelations he learned moments ago, others about his own uncharacteristic actions, but he could find no answers in the darkness of his closed eyelids, only calm and tranquility that slowly led him to sleep.
