Demonic Magician

The short distance down from the hill and to the town proper took much longer than expected. Mostly due to the other two Parties needing to stop at the crest to gawk at the red hue painting the northern sky, and discuss amongst themselves what it could be.

I found myself tapping my foot impatiently at the bottom, where the rough path became more orderly brickwork. It wasn’t their fault, really. I just ached for progress and had never been good at herding the masses. We had a whole show’s worth of extras and as nice as that was, it shouldn’t be my responsibility.

All it took was a glance at Tanya, and she gave me a nod. Adjusting her chestplate, she started striding her way back up the brief hill to figuratively grab the ears of our allies and drag them down.

My gaze then went up to the nearest house. Something of a guard station on the road before the town. I vanished, replacing my hell-dove, and immediately bumped into Ren, who had done the same thing. We grabbed at each other to avoid tumbling off of the roof, and I rolled my eyes.

“Looks like we share the same singular brain cell,” I said as we stabilized.

She shot me a grin. “I was about to say the same thing.”

I adjusted my feet on the red tiles of the roof and looked out at the town. There was a central building far larger than the rest, made of light gray stone rather than the muddy tones of wood and tile that comprised the rest of the area. I was willing to bet that was the location the Eternal Wardens had been stationed.

Surrounding this main building were the smaller shacks and fabric-covered boxed areas that might be an open market. If there were any people to run or observe such a thing. Over on the right past the shops was an inn, which had an opposite on the left, which I couldn’t tell its purpose - but it looked important. Two rows of residential houses then encircled these other locations, making the whole town almost a spiral in design.

“It’s kind of eerie, isn’t it?” Ren asked, although she looked rather nonplussed.

“I had hoped to see signs of a struggle, at least.” I took my top hat down and rubbed at my hair. It still hadn’t received a cut. “Unless they were teleported away or something?”

“The Shadows have had some connection to the eldritch,” she said with a shrug. “There are all kinds of unknown bullshit that could have happened here. Might even be a trap for us.”

My eyes went from her and back to the groups now moving down to where Wolf and Quinn were in discussion over something. I deflated and the real horror sunk into my stomach.

“You know, moonflower, it’s not really about us anymore.”

The elf raised an eyebrow but nodded. “We’re already at the peak.”

“The true trial is keeping these poor lambs safe.”

That might be big-headed of me to say, but I often had an ego raring to be let loose. There was some dry truth in the statement, however. The original three of us had been powerful from the start, but after everything we had been through, we didn’t have much left to fear. The Lady and Candlekeep was surely the pinnacle of our trials, but until we got there… any trap or monster or assassins sent to erase us were probably going to be zero actual threat to us.

But to our allies, they could be deadly. We had sown so much chaos in trying to bring order to this world. Filled too many shallow graves. There were no awards for putting on a great show if the audience was just a pile of corpses. So this was it. We all needed to win.

“How do you propose we get down from here now?” Ren asked, drawing my thoughts away from our overarching goals.

We had missed the window for Transposition to switch us back. Still, we had options.

“May I?” I gave her a smile, and at her nod, I lifted her up across my arms. Wings burst from my back and I floated us down to the ground before putting them away again. I let her down from my arms, but her eyes lingered on me. Burning. A nudge from my side had Wolf there, my top hat in his mouth.

“Thanks, brother.” I gave him a nod. My temporary horns had the downside of popping the headwear straight off of me. I’d have to be careful about that.

“See anything useful from up there?” he asked, as I placed the hat back in its rightful position.

I shook my head. “Just as empty as it first seemed. No signs of a fight. You getting any sense of the place?”

The bear made the show of sniffing the air. “No, nothing out of the ordinary.”

Worrying. We turned to see the two other groups make their way down. Fiona and Ruby broke away from the pack to follow Tanya over to us.

“This place is giving me the chills,” the fighter complained. “Most places have been kinda dead, but this is… it’s like it’s always been empty.”

I knew what she meant. Without any evidence that something had gone wrong here, it was believable enough if someone had said the System just never populated this town. Created but abandoned. We knew better.

“Are we planning on splitting up?” the goblin asked.

I shook my head. “Although that would cover more ground, if this is a trap I don’t want us to be separated. Something killed or transported the Eternal Wardens, and potentially the whole town.”

Ren agreed, our rooftop conversation having made clear how we both felt. “Do we have any idea how large their guild was?”

Ruby and Fiona exchanged a look before the fighter pulled a face at the elf. “As far as we know, it could have been the full twenty members allowed.”

So we might be dealing with a threat that could take on four whole groups of Players. Even assuming they weren’t all Level Fifteen, it wasn’t a good sign. Perhaps it would have been better if we didn’t tell the others we’d returned from hell, and went and saved the world ourselves. As much as that sounded like I wanted to protect them, it was closer to being a decision made via my ego. They had a part to play, and we’d keep them safe.

After the other groups finished murmuring amongst themselves, Tanya beat them into marching formation again, and the three Parties moved into the town, toward the temple. Wolf and I took the lead, while Ren was busy explaining something to Quinn. My attention was fully on the surroundings, so I didn’t catch what.

It was fair to say I was on edge.

Wolf could feel it too, despite it still feeling ordinary, but most of his senses were better than mine. His mood had been pretty decent for most of the walk over, and it was easy to guess that he was glad to be back in familiar terrain. As soon as we had reached the town, he had settled his usual dour self once again. Once more into danger. I felt terrible that we couldn’t have a real rest.

I put my hand on his shoulder as we walked. “How are you feeling, brother?”

He grunted at first, before shooting me a glance. “There is an empty joy within me. I have so much, and yet it doesn’t feel… real.”

“Because this is a created world?”

“No. I am just… more complex than I should be. The range of emotions I have experienced as of late is troubling. I feel sad and morose, even guilt over the death of the rabbit. In the before times, even the death of my siblings didn’t produce the same depth of feeling.”

I nodded, but wasn’t sure what to tell him. He was a bear somehow given sentience. “I’m pretty sure I’m not meant to teleport, turn invisible, or transform into a demon. Both things as strengths, friend, but in different ways.”

“Perhaps.” He raised an eyebrow and look back over to the nearest buildings. “I appreciate the attempt to console me. If it weren’t for you two, I would probably have been hunted down. Thank you for treating me as an equal.”

With a smile, I tipped my hat. “Save the soppiness for after we save the world, brother.”

He didn’t reply, but the look that he gave me told me all that I needed to know. We were both aware he was getting on in age. His loyalty and effort were unwavering, but he could only go as far as his body could take him. If there was one thing I hoped that we could claw out of the System, it would be to…

Live forever? Even thinking that, it sounded untenable. Maybe Wolf was ready for eternal rest, or would get bored with immortality. Would I?

My brain sidetracked into thinking how I would spend infinite life alongside Ren. Being king of hell didn’t appear to make me a permanent fixture in the System, so our chances weren’t too high. Once we had erased the Lady and could see the rest of Othea, perhaps life wouldn’t be so dangerous.

Then I’d have to actually contend with the fact that I was stuck in this world for good.

My eyes went back to the buildings. Rustic, albeit pleasant houses. Windows and open doorways, dark but empty. I stepped over close to one to peer inside better, but it didn’t hold any secrets. Simple open-plan kitchen and dining room. Modest and gloomy.

We had discussed skipping this side-quest entirely. As much as I wanted to keep our little army safe, I didn’t really care for the Wardens. They had information on the Guardians, but did we really need it? The true reason was if the Crimson Shadow had dropped something nasty here to wipe them out, we didn’t want whatever spell or entity to then come up behind us while we marched on Candlekeep.

It was just pragmatic to stay safe and have this last bite of what the second area had to offer before we made our final stand.

So it made me feel slightly validated as I gradually felt more tense as we got deeper into the town. I turned to look behind me, and I could see the apprehension on the faces of most of our followers. Ren stepped away from the fixer, leaving him to walk beside Tanya.

“You can feel it, right?” She glared at the empty buildings as we fell into step. “Something very wrong.”

I nodded as we breached the rows of residential buildings to break into the start of the market stalls and stacks of crates. The temple was now visible, just across an open stone square.

Worse than something very wrong, this area felt like something very Guardian.