The Midnight Leave: What It Means to Be Human

Axis, Vena and Vilda took two days to recover from the previous events, much to Vilda’s chagrin. As upset as she seemed to be with Card, that energy could not last with how exhausted she truly was, and by the time she was fully rested, her mood had improved significantly. Though, she still remembered her complaints and struggled to patiently wait to let them all out. Axis and Vena waited along with her, aware of the glances from the passersby who considered them outsiders and possible dangers to their fragile sanctuary.

All three of them had changed clothes, with Vilda liberating herself from wearing Demkil’s armor, while Axis and Vena finally escaped their prisoner garments. Both of the Elves wore standard Elven clothing that Vilda seemed to previously salvage, though they were still complementary to the colors of the forests, their usual environment. Meanwhile, Axis actually wore the same type of clothing he did as a prisoner, except they were cleaner and of higher quality, meaning no holes or other tears.

They stood before the same old building they had met him in previously, but since the door was locked, they had to wait outside awkwardly. It had only been about ten minutes since they started waiting, but the time felt as if it was stretching due to the silence among them. Between Vilda’s irritable mood and Vena’s usual silence, Axis didn’t know where to start. Within their two days of rest, Axis had managed to apologize to her again, but she only responded with:

“It’s fine, Axis.”

And I was being really sincere, too! Axis complained internally. I know there’s something she wants to say to me, so why is she being so reserved now? I’ve been preparing for this conversation for the past couple of days, and she’s the one avoiding the subject!

“This sucks…”

Axis didn’t realize that he said that part out loud, and Vilda responded accordingly.

“I’m tired of waiting too, but as much as I want to hunt them down, it’s better to just wait here. Try to stay patient, Axis.”

Finally, an opening!

“Okay, fine,” Axis responded as calmly as he could, “but while we’re waiting, wasn’t there something we needed to talk about?”

“He is correct,” Vena suddenly chimed in, “there is something that the three of us need to discuss before meeting with them. Specifically, Vilda, I would like to know how long you’ve been working with these people.”

“Wait, what? Why are you bringing this up now? Actually, I am curious about that as well…”

“I agree with Axis’s first point.” Vilda retorted towards Vena. “You had time to ask me about this during our days of rest, so why now?”

“Don’t give me that. Every time I tried to talk to you since after you’ve helped bandage my wounds, you would just brush me off with some nonsense like: ‘it’s fine,’ or ‘don’t worry about me.’”

“What, she did that to you, too?!” Axis asked Vena before turning to Vilda to interrogate. “What’s up with that, huh, Vilda?”

“Wait a second, don’t just double-team me like that! Okay, I get it, you just want to know how I know Card and Seraf, right? Long story short, I was on my own and struggling to survive when they found me and helped me out. From there we worked out a deal where we could continue assisting each other while aiming towards our own separate goals. Simple enough, right?”

“No,” Vena said flatly, “there’s definitely more to it than that. What are you trying to hide?”

“I’m not trying to hide anything! I don’t know what more you’re expecting, but there’s nothing else!”

“Well, I sincerely doubt that.”

“Yeah? Well, you don’t sound as sincere when you have to use the word itself, so there!”

“What are you, a child?!”

While Vena and Vilda kept going back and forth, a random child suddenly approached Axis. The child was slightly shorter than him, with brown and green eyes looking up at him curiously. The child had a bandaged head, with brown hair sticking out in certain places, and the raggedy clothes worn reminded Axis of his days as a prisoner, which immediately irritated him.

“What do you want, kid?”

The child continued to stare at Axis for a good while, before suddenly laughing while pointing at him.

“You’re such a brat!”

Axis’s veins immediately popped across his head.

“Who are you calling a brat, you little shit?!”

“Axis!”

When Vilda suddenly called Axis out, the child ran away laughing, but pretended he was crying and scared. At least, Axis was sure he was pretending…

“You guys seem quite energetic.”

The three turned to the sudden voice, to see Card and Seraf finally approaching, still wearing their armaments as if they had never changed out of them.

“What took you two so long?!” Vilda wasted no time addressing them to escape Vena.

“Good to see that you’ve recovered so nicely.” Card responded, unintentionally ignoring Vilda’s question.

Yes, Card was sure it was unintentional…

#

“Alright Card, time to explain yourself.”

Vilda called out Card without restraint, after they entered the old building and had the privacy to discuss her recent assignment. Well, it wasn’t completely private, due to the door falling off again; Seraf would have attempted to fix it again, but Card told him not to bother, since the upcoming conversation was considered far more important.

“I said that I would, didn’t I?” Card responded to Vilda calmly, contrasting her energy. “So, about why we were late…”

“Not that! You knew that the Prince of Demkil would be at Swinger’s, didn’t you?!”

“I didn’t know, I just made an educated guess that turned out to be correct.”

“Yeah, I don’t buy that! Not with how informed you always seem to be…”

Axis couldn’t help but feel the same way. After all, Card had called him Prince before he was even introduced to him, which still hadn’t been explained.

“It’s true,” Card explained, “I made the guess based off of information that I received, ergo the ‘educated’ part.”

“And it was information you just couldn’t share with me, huh?!” Vilda continued to press.

“You heard this information as well, at the time the job was assigned to you. I just didn’t want to get our hopes up. After all…”

Card took a quick glance at Vena before continuing.

“I had also figured that there was a good chance of your finding another Elf there. Now, if I had shared that with you, and I turned out to be wrong, wouldn’t you have been more disappointed?”

“W-well…” Vilda stammered, her ire slowly but surely diminishing.

As if considering himself the victor in a debate, he started to close the argument and transition to another topic.

“So, all I had were assumptions that I expected to be wrong about, but you have proven my shots in the dark true. So, very nicely done! I’m glad things have worked out this way! Now that Axis is here with us, we can move forward with our plan.”

“Which is…?” Vena chimed in with an inquiry towards Card, still too wary of him to properly introduce herself.

Card didn’t seem to mind, however, since Vena prompted him to discuss what he seemed to be looking forward to.

“Our plan to defeat Demkil, of course.”

Just as anticipated, Card’s words piqued both Axis and Vena’s interest, while Vilda looked away in annoyance, but seemed to have no intention of intervening.

“So,” Axis started, wary of Card in his own right, “you guys are enemies of Demkil as well, huh?”

“Well, the current Demkil, yes.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I’m sure you’ve noticed it yourself, but Demkil is in a shitty state right now. Obviously, it’s because of the current King; though, to be honest, Demkil has been declining since its second or third generation. It has strayed far from what Demkil was supposed to be.”

Axis raised a brow as he scoffed.

“What, you mean Demkil wasn’t always a shithole filled with Monster-hating scum?”

“No, it wasn’t.”

“Huh…?”

Axis didn’t expect Card to take his question and answer it so seriously, nor did he expect what Card said next.

“Demkil was founded to be a home for those who had lost theirs, as a result of the conflicts that took place back then. The only reason there were ‘Slayers’ were to protect the people who couldn’t fight against the Supernatural, which inhabited these lands before them. They fought to survive while trying to build a kingdom where people could live freely and peacefully, where they would never have to fight again. Now, Demkil is a cesspool of festered hatred towards the Supernatural, no longer fighting them as a means to an end, but as a way to maintain some warped sense of glory and heroism. That’s why we have to take it back.”

“Wait, what?!”

Card held out his hand towards Axis, offering a handshake as if to seal a deal.

“Axis Demkil, Prince of the Slayers, we need your help to reclaim our kingdom and restore it to what it’s meant to be. What do you say?”