-Callen-
The elves left immediately without hesitation, leaving me and my men to try plotting out our next action. At the very least a temporary withdrawal of the elves was confirmed, but that only meant I needed to find Freema and recover what she had stolen. The last I heard of her, she had been in the duke’s castle. Which was a daunting prospect, but also the only lead we had. I glanced back up at the sky with the drakes circling overhead, waiting to see if we’d try crossing, and made my first decision.
“We’re going to follow the river south until we hit the fork. Hopefully it will be a bit safer to cross down there.” I glance back at Sir Jolen and add another piece for him. “Sir Jolen let Karia know that the elves are temporarily withdrawing to the Fallen Forest. I’m not sure how long, but if she hears any news of an elvish child traveling with humans, let me know.” I nod to myself, hopefully Freema won’t stay under the protection of a demon duke. Though calling anything a demon can provide protection is a loose fit for the term. I lead the group southward, and almost immediately hostile creatures take exception to our movements. Previously the elves had been clearing the way, leaving only the more migratory and younger monsters in our way. Using the river and some well-timed airbursts, we managed to shake most predators off our trail by launching them into the river while we hastily moved on. Luckily, just like the forest predators in this region, they were highly territorial, meaning to escape pursuit, all we needed to do was to escape into the next predator's territory.
As we escaped the territory of a massive rattlesnake, I felt Nightshade reaching out to me. I called the others to take a break; they withdrew in a group off to one side while I sat alone and focused on my connection to nightshade. Ever since her stock of mana flowers was exhausted, she became a lot more proactive in communicating danger near Port Town to me. Her nervousness feels like an animal that wants to flee before some disaster strikes but is trapped in place. Which strikes me as a bit odd because she always felt more like a plant in previous communications. Then again, as an intelligent being, it made sense that she would pick up on some of the thought processes of mobile creatures. Part of her personality bled into me, and part of me bled into her. The memories flowed in, and soon I saw what appeared to be an army of young adults and children marching down the road of Portten towards Port Town. While they didn’t feel hostile, something about the leader was setting Nightshade on edge.
As the vision focused on the leader, a bout of glee erupted. Lexia stood at the front, but more importantly, Freema was by her side. It seemed I didn’t need to infiltrate the home of a powerful demon in hopes of finding her or a trail to follow. Better yet, among her companions, Lexia was the only threat that felt remotely knight-level. The children and soldiers around the group were at best veterans, far from being enough to stop my team of knights. I stood up and immediately called the others over. There's no sense wasting a break in hostile territory when we could instead spend that time in a town. I prepared to summon my V—my Hell Gate. My mind stuttered strangely on the name. I asked Nightshade to open the gate from her end while I opened my portal right in front of it. Making a seamless transition for the group, hiding my connection to hell, no point in flaunting it. In fact, thinking back to how casually I sent others through my gates, I really didn’t consider the consequences; I’ll have to be more careful going forward. I dismissed the various considerations as the other knights had already crossed over.
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“Callen!" A surprised voice chimed up from the entryway of what looked like a new workshop setup next to Nightshade’s tower. A smile springs to my face as Nixie steps out to greet us. I suppose setting up her trap workshop next to Nightshade’s tower only made sense considering she was waiting for me to resummon her. I winced as I realized I may have forgotten about that on a couple of occasions where her help would’ve been useful. In hindsight, when we were preparing to defend Nox City, her skills could’ve been very useful. Still, the past was the past, and now a perfect chance for me to utilize her skills had just come up.
“Nixie, sorry I didn’t open a gate for you back to the action. Other than a couple of hasty confrontations, we didn’t really have much of a chance to use your skills. I had a brief encounter with the person leading the elves and learned why the invasion happened in the first place. They’re trying to recover a ring that Freema took. Which conveniently we now have the perfect chance to return since Nightshade sensed Freema traveling to Port Town in the company of Lexia and a small army of youths.” The knights standing nearby shifted awkwardly, so I decided that the catching up could be done en route while I sorted the temporary accommodations. The big question was under what intentions was Lexia marching on Port Town. In my agreement with the witch, I made sure to only specify the arrangement in which I return the ring. I can see how she had been scammed by de . . . my kind before. She had originally stated she wanted me to kill the thief, but I only promised to return the ring itself. Once the task is complete, humanity will never need to concern itself with the elves again, as the pact should bind the witch from ever invading again. I pause at that thought. If I were a demon, why would I go out of my way to help humans? Even if it was to build my power base, my past actions really don’t seem to align with my purpose, which was... I blanked again, finding no plans jumping to fill the gap.
I dismissed the confusion; it wouldn’t matter in the short term anyway. I’m sure I’ll find a suitable purpose sometime later, but for now I had a pact to keep and an army with unknown intentions marching through the forest. Even worse, that army was led by a rival demon that had been audacious enough to steal and eat my arm. My head buzzed as I tried to remember why. A frown of concern etched itself on my face as yet again I found myself getting headaches from no clear source.
“Callen, Gate Now!” Callia reached out to me, crying into my mind. I don’t hesitate in the slightest in summoning my void gate in the middle of the street and opening it just in time to see Callia sliding a civilian through her side and setting a baby down alongside the mother. I don’t have time to question her as an angry roar echoes through the gates, and she cuts her connection. I reach inside and pull the two the rest of the way out. Immediately I noticed the mother's condition and started emergency treatment. The sound of a helicopter landing next to us echoed out shortly after I stabilized the woman. I take the opportunity to glance to the side and recognize Crescent jumping to my side with her serious professional focus. I move back and watch as she takes over the treatment. A few tense moments pass before Crescent stands back up and turns to me with her eyes alight with surprise and joy. I share the emotion as we take the chance to embrace. However, as we hug, a question pops in the back of my mind.
“Why do I feel genuinely happy about a human? Why did I call my gate a void gate in the heat of the moment?” My mind asked itself. The contradictions and discrepancies burdened me for a moment, but just like my earlier questions, they disappeared like an unimportant thought washed away by greater priorities. Our encounter was sadly cut short as another emergency beacon lit up. Crescent the professional didn’t hesitate in the slightest, apologizing before hopping back into her helicopter and racing over to the next issue. I glanced over to Nixie, who was standing by the emergency beacon in the first place, and gave her a thumbs up. I carefully picked up the woman while Yana carefully picked up the baby.
“It seems we’ll need to arrange housing for more than just the knights.” With that we made our way to town hall to speak with Hew, who was filling in while I was off on my adventure. A moment of dread for whatever paperwork he had definitely set aside for me hit, but I pressed on regardless. I would have to face his revenge sooner or later, there was no indefinitely putting it off.
